Getting ahead is my favorite

I’m writing this blog post about 2 weeks in advance. Because of the magic of editorial calendars.

As of the time of this writing, I know I’ve got a big weekend coming up AND it turns out I need to go out of town for a small family emergency and may not have internet for 5 days. Being able to work ahead is a god-send in this specific situation, but even aside from that …. I get A LOT more done when I write and format a bunch of posts in a big chunk.

And then I can sit back and work on another project or two in a big chunk. Being able to FOCUS on just one project, and not jump in between tasks, allows me to be SO much more productive!

If you also want to get ahead on your work:

Know your priorities:

What are your deadlines? What needs to be done next? The first thing is to make sure that you’re not going to miss an important date on Project B while your working on getting ahead on Project A. It just doesn’t make sense to work ahead on your blog posts if you’re going to miss an important guest post deadline.

Plus being aware of your REAL priorities helps keep you off of Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram and other (super-fun and addicting) time wasters.

Do your homework:

Here is my post on how to maintain an editorial calendar. The *specific* examples in that post are a bit out of date, but the strategy is the same. The trick is, of course, to know what you’re going to work on. Knowing what you’re going to blog about 3 weeks out is the biggest step in being able to get those posts written 3 weeks out. I’m working on a new model this year, where each month has a rough theme of blog topics, and it really does help me plan and come up with topics even easier!

Focus and get rid of social media:

This last step is hard for me. I took Facebook and Twitter off of my bookmarks toolbar, and yet I STILL find myself going to those sites (and others). Like, every 3 minutes. Just to “see” if anyone replied to my post/update/etc. It’s ridiculous. Truly. I’ve taken alerts off of my phone AND I keep it on silent always, so that helps a lot. My next attempt will be to write blog posts off the internet. But even with those distractions, I can still set aside enough focus time to work ahead.

And what am I going to do now that I’m a couple weeks ahead? Enjoy my weekend with my husband. Not stress about being unplugged for a few days. Finish the first draft of the novel I’m working on. Read A TON. Any of the large number of projects I’m still in the middle of.

How far ahead do you usually work?

Getting ahead is my favorite is a post from: Lemon and Raspberry | Amy T Schubert

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