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“Write Every Day” Is Bad Advice: Hacking the Psychology of Big Projects

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Re: “Write Every Day” Is Bad Advice: Hacking the Psychology of Big Projects

#11

Post by munificent »

I did the "write every day" thing to finish a book [1] and it worked like a charm for me.

Sure, it was hard to find time every day. Sometimes I got up early. Sometimes I stayed up late. Sometimes I squeezed it in on a flight. But I pulled it off. I had enough flexibility within a day to find a little slice of time.

As far I can, the author advocates the exact same strategy, they just use a week as their unit instead of a day. I don't see how it's that different otherwise.

Personally, for me, I think a week is almost too long of a cadence. I've been exercising lately and I stick to a weekly schedule with that and I find myself tending to slack until the very end of the week and then cramming it in. A week is long enough that I don't get really get in the groove and feel like it's a continuous habit.

But, of course, everyone runs at a different rhythm. Find the one that works for you.

[1]: http://gameprogrammingpatterns.com/

Re: “Write Every Day” Is Bad Advice: Hacking the Psychology of Big Projects

#12

Post by GoToRO »

hoodwink wrote: post #8
ivraatiems wrote: post #7

The author doesn't seem to understand the difference between motivation and discipline. He has been successful into tricking himself into a frequent state of writing motivation. He's very lucky to have done so. For the rest of us, who aren't so lucky, discipline will have to do. Writing every day (or every two days, or every week, etc) isn't a about finishing a project or being the best you can be. It's about making…

"I write only when inspiration strikes. Fortunately it strikes every morning at nine o'clock sharp." -Somerset Maugham

That quote will not help anyone. The question is WHY it strikes every morning at nine o'clock sharp? What do you have to do for that to happen? Because that inspiration is just an efect of previous actions.

Re: “Write Every Day” Is Bad Advice: Hacking the Psychology of Big Projects

#14

Post by thunderbong »

GoToRO wrote: post #12
hoodwink wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"I write only when inspiration strikes. Fortunately it strikes every morning at nine o'clock sharp." -Somerset Maugham

That quote will not help anyone. The question is WHY it strikes every morning at nine o'clock sharp? What do you have to do for that to happen? Because that inspiration is just an efect of previous actions.

Maugham is basically saying that it's discipline that matters. And once you do it enough number of times, it becomes so routine that you will automatically be able to write at the time you've set for yourself.

Re: “Write Every Day” Is Bad Advice: Hacking the Psychology of Big Projects

#15

Post by ggggtez »

onion2k wrote: post #9
hoodwink wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"I write only when inspiration strikes. Fortunately it strikes every morning at nine o'clock sharp." -Somerset Maugham

I don't think I understand that quote. Is that Maugham saying you don't actually need inspiration so you can just sit down and work without it? Or is he sarcastically saying jobs are badly configured because you can't just sit down at nine o'clock and produce something good? It could mean either.

It's sarcasm. One possible interpretation is that money is a strong motivator, and writers generally don't make money by not writing.

Re: “Write Every Day” Is Bad Advice: Hacking the Psychology of Big Projects

#16

Post by GoToRO »

thunderbong wrote: post #14
GoToRO wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That quote will not help anyone. The question is WHY it strikes every morning at nine o'clock sharp? What do you have to do for that to happen? Because that inspiration is just an efect of previous actions.

Maugham is basically saying that it's discipline that matters. And once you do it enough number of times, it becomes so routine that you will automatically be able to write at the time you've set for yourself.

Yeah. What I want to add, from my own experience, is that you can have discipline (you show up) and still can't do anything (you are not prepared). This kind of dicipline in doing comes from discipline in preparing. At this age this could be even more important because we live in crowded cities that simply are not design for this.

Re: “Write Every Day” Is Bad Advice: Hacking the Psychology of Big Projects

#17

Post by greyman »

onion2k wrote: post #9
hoodwink wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"I write only when inspiration strikes. Fortunately it strikes every morning at nine o'clock sharp." -Somerset Maugham

I don't think I understand that quote. Is that Maugham saying you don't actually need inspiration so you can just sit down and work without it? Or is he sarcastically saying jobs are badly configured because you can't just sit down at nine o'clock and produce something good? It could mean either.

I think it is the first - that he doesn't rely on the motivation, and instead uses discipline.

Re: “Write Every Day” Is Bad Advice: Hacking the Psychology of Big Projects

#18

Post by greyman »

xyzzy4 wrote: post #10
lqdc13 wrote: post #5

"To leverage the psychology of your brain, you need to instead choose clear goals that you clearly know how to accomplish, and then approach scheduling with flexibility." What if the goals are unclear or you don't know how to accomplish them? If the clear plan is to make goals clear, then you might as well put that on the schedule and work on it for the allotted amount of time. Hence "write every day". Chekhov tied h…

If you have a job, your main goal should be to do things that make your boss satisfied, and prevent yourself from getting the axe. If you don't have a job, your goals will be more ambiguous.

> your main goal should be to do things that make your boss satisfied

Yes, but only during those working hours. Outside of the work, you can have another goal which could be even more "main".

Re: “Write Every Day” Is Bad Advice: Hacking the Psychology of Big Projects

#19

Post by coldtea »

munificent wrote: post #11

I did the "write every day" thing to finish a book [1] and it worked like a charm for me. Sure, it was hard to find time every day. Sometimes I got up early. Sometimes I stayed up late. Sometimes I squeezed it in on a flight. But I pulled it off. I had enough flexibility within a day to find a little slice of time. As far I can, the author advocates the exact same strategy, they just use a week as their unit instead…

>As far I can, the author advocates the exact same strategy, they just use a week as their unit instead of a day. I don't see how it's that different otherwise.

By being far easier to pull off, and thus less prone to slipping and demotivation?

Quantitative changes often lead to qualitative differences

Re: “Write Every Day” Is Bad Advice: Hacking the Psychology of Big Projects

#20

Post by weeksie »

Write every day is great advice. It works because you have to be sitting in the chair if you want to have any output. You don't build an app by waiting for the inspiration to strike, you instead show up the office five days per week, six to eight hours per day, and build stuff.

As for slip-ups, uh, well, it happens. If you're so rigid that missing a day of writing screws up your entire plan and you give up on your book project then maybe you're not really that into the idea of writing. See: skipping a day at the gym, having a sick day at work.

I'm all for reducing cognitive overhead and using clever productivity hacks but at some point it's just necessary to do the fucking work.

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