This is the second in our new series The Goal Setting Diaries. The Goal Setting Diaries is a group-think project similar to the sex diaries and the money diaries. Real stories from real people who want to achieve a goal. This is a diary from David, a Freelance technical writer. Do you see any tips you can offer? Post them in the comments below. P.S. David was awarded a free copy of Achieve-IT! goal setting software for submitting a goal diary. You can get the same if you submit yours and I post it on this site or in my newsletter read the FAQ for more information.
Goals:
I’m a freelance technical writer and I’m aiming to overcome my constant challenges.
But first, what’s a technical writer? Technical writers generally write user guides and manuals for products. I mostly write for high tech companies. If you need to know more, Wikipedia is here to help: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technical_writer
For the upcoming week I hope to do the following:
1. Internet-free diet.
I’ve done it before though it’s not easy. The aim is to avoid wasting time on the web by cutting out news sites and other sites I go to for on particular reason, other than to pass time. I can still check e-mail, my bank account and go to web sites where I need info or need to do something, but no aimless surfing.
2. Bill 6 hours a day.
Thank God I have a few projects, the challenge now is to do them! To bill 6 hours a day you need to work more than 6 hours because you can’t work 6 hours non-stop without a break. But I aim to get to 6 hours daily.
That’s enough for now, more later.
Continue reading the rest of David’s goal setting diary and see if you can help him.
Monday December 15th 11.15 pm
Well, on the first front it’s been fine — I haven’t checked any news sites or aimlessly surfed but I didn’t get close enough to billing 6 hours. However, I did manage to cross a few stubborn items from my to-do list.
How do I get to bill 6 hours? I have to be awake and alert so it starts the night before by going to bed on time and then making sure I’m at my desk by 9.00, so that after a few “warm-up” tasks I can start working at 9.30.
So, good night…
Tuesday December 16th 11.15 am
Not sure why the updates have so far all happened at 11.15.
I’m only now about to start work which is of course not very good. The good side though is that instead of checking the same news on 3 different sites, ten different times in 30 minutes, I have been doing items on my to do list. But that’s no excuse for starting work so late.
So, today’s aim is again 6 hours billing plus some other business related tasks and other to do items. Here goes…
Tuesday December 16th 11.15 pm
I got to 5½ billed hours so I have to be pretty happy with that. I also completed a couple of important business-related tasks. And a client that has been dormant for almost 4 months called to say that they want to start working with me again TG.
And no checking of news sites or aimless surfing so that’s good too.
Plenty of room for improvement but TG overall a good day.
Weds December 17th 12 noon
I’ve been at a client this morning and that always makes it easier to notch up billable hours because there are no distractions and if the meeting starts early then I don’t need to find the self-motivation to get started.
I’ll be back in my home office this afternoon — let’s see how I fare. As I’m in the middle of my Internet-free diet I don’t have to worry about web distractions which is great. I don’t have any particular tasks today, just a few phone calls, so I just have to do my best and get down to work.
Thurs December 18th 2.10 pm
I thought that seeing as though I am keeping this diary, which I’ll be sending to Brad, just by virtue of keeping the diary I’ll be spurred on to greater things. Unfortunately, yesterday afternoon was a bit of a write-off and today the day just hasn’t got going. My Internet-free diet also lost a bit of ground. But I’m determined that from now things will improve.
Thurs December 18th 6.10 pm
Yep, you guessed right. Our hero didn’t manage to improve things. Some days just get shot and I find it very hard to take a deep breath and re-focus. And now I’m off to the theatre and then going out with friends.
Fri December 19th 11.45 am
A slow start to the day. I have found a possibility of office space outside my home which I’m going to look into on Monday.
Lots to do. Here goes. Can I end the work week on a high and finally report that today I billed 6 hours?
Fri December 19th 11.30 pm
Boy, am I dejected. My least productive day of the week.
{ 11 comments }
A couple of observations here. . .
One, you need software that will not allow you to browse for certain hours of the day. There are lots out there, but this one is highly customizable.
http://lifehacker.com/374812/save-yourself-from-time-sinks-online-with-leechblock
I would set that up for the most visited sites on your browser history. Run it for at least the first 4 hours of your day. http://www.technotheory.com/2009/01/get-to-work-now/
The other thing is, from reading your entries, it looks like 6 hours is where you want to end up when you’re working like you want to work every day. My opinion, you should start with less. Start with 2 hours, or 3. Setup your “time sink hole” software for those exact hours. Once you get to 3 hours, shoot for 4.
You’ll get to 6, but to start there, when you’re not even getting 2 on some days is frustrating. Ease into it.
Good luck!
I have to agree, I think that I need to spend more time doing worthwhile stuff with my spare time! Sometimes I am sitting there, and then the day has just disappeared, and it’s really quite depressing when you’ve wasted a whole day, and you have nothing to account the day for.
Thanks for this, I may try a few thing what you’re doing too.
I’m curious if the goal you’re setting is realistic. I allow myself some mindless surfing as long as I’m actually getting my work done.
I also think you’re missing the specific part of the SMART model. Rather than say the general “I want to get 6 billable hours”, wouldn’t it be better to plan out a list of specific items that you want to do, then work on them and check them off?
Eric S. Muellers last blog post..More Mystery Church Shoppers: Church Check
It sounds to me like you are just getting bored with this line of work too. You may just want to start keeping your mind open to possible career changes into something that is more creatively stimulating. Its hard to get motivated for something that you really don’t want to do! Maybe make a goal to become a writer for your favorite magazine or something instead.
I agree that 6 hours billable time might be a stretch. How about starting by writing down everything you do, and noting how much time you spend doing it. That was an eye-opener for me. When you have done that, you can work on eliminating one time-waster at a time – that half hour here and there soon adds up to a chunk of time wasted.
Also, look at how realistic 6 hours really is. If you get called into a lot of meetings, or have an ‘open door’ policy on your office, that can be a real time-waster. Can you set aside time when your door is not ‘open’ so you can focus on the tasks you need to complete to get paid?
I have found using an RSS reader to focus on the news I really want helps me avoid reading the distractions on the general news pages. Just subscribe to the feeds that you really do need to know about. There is a lot of duplication in feeds, but even more on news sites.
Brad, this a great series – can you provide a follow-up post with info on how the authors of the diaries did in subsequent weeks?
My tip: alter your environment to alter your habits. Move your furniture, computer etc., so that your leisure time is completely separate from work time, and you can’t confuse the two. Allow yourself X amount of time in leisure mode for X amount in work mode.
Agitationists last blog post..Why EveryBlock Rules the Neighborhood
A trick I use when at home is on my linux system on the hosts file, adding a line “127.0.0.1 http://www.youtube.com” blocks out youtube. Sure, you can then edit the file and delete, but 1) you have to type in your super-user password 2) you then have to find the right line and delete it 3) you feel guilty and are reminded not to stay on too long 4) sometimes just the mental thought of 1), 2),3) makes you decide to NOT edit the hosts file (“sudo gedit /etc/hosts”) so you end up NOT giving in to temptation. Helps a lot when I’m home.
You can also block some of the advertiser based websites too by the way
Now a question for your or your readers: how do you do the same thing in Windows in a simple, as-few-steps-as-possible way of blocking certain websites from being allowed on one’s browser? This would help me avoid more distractions when at work and help more folks..thanks,
H
Boy…wow…I share your goals EXACTLY…even the 6 hours a day. But I also think that’s not realistic. Some observations as I’ve been battling this too.
1) You have to decide how long you will work each session. You can’t just say “6 hours today” and then measure by the end of the day. If you’re strong in the morning then schedule 90 min, 60, whatever, and time it, and turn off the phone, and record it!..on a piece of paper…a daily chart…green marker…give comments about the FEELING! … “I DID IT!~” vs. just a check mark.
2) Develop a reward system…there has to be a payoff to not surf. How much money is that surfing really costing you? What hobby/book/ etc…. project that you’ve been putting off for YEARS! maybe, are you finally going to invest some time in. (for me it’s music, singing and maybe songwriting…something highly creative…something both fun and puzzling…something that you’ll grow very fond of quickly and really chomp at the bit to get your next work session done so you can have that half hour of fun (Pavlov yourself).
3) 6 hrs. billable?… do you count work hours that aren’t billable? One a day “working” on billing, finding new clients, etc. Is 6 too much out of the gate? How about 4hrs. x 6 days instead?
After calculating everything for 7 days, I came to know the horrible truth, I was not working even 5 hours a day on my living tasks. I am wondering what are good techniques and strategies which can help us maximizing our output. Thanks for sharing your time and output.
My advice is simple – just block all “fun” websites during the time you need to work. Preferably do it in your router’s settings – this way it’ll require more effort to un-block them and then block again and you’re less likely to procrastinate.
I too believe that lately i am wasting a lot of my productive time browsing aimlessly and reading news sites. Self motivation is a difficult thing to practice. Its easier said than done. There are distractions all over the web and its not easy to steer clear of them. I spend 12 hours each day with my computer yet I have 4 to 5 billable hours. Need to work on this.
{ 2 trackbacks }