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All those I think of as literary men will agree with me that three hours a day will produce as much as a man ought to write. Cal Newport adds an hour, suggesting that you should stop working at around four hours. More time isn’t worth it, he tells us. The quality will drop too much. All of these writers are assuming that the problem has to do with stopping. This has never been an issue for me! I’ve always found the difficulty is, first, starting, and then, keeping going View Highlight 2024-02-03
Related to this, if you commit to doing something first thing in the morning, you are most likely to get it done. Commitments for later in the day can get derailed—a friend drops by, there is a crisis at work, and so on
If I finish something before the six minutes (maybe it took two minutes to make the dentist appointment), I just move to the next. Advantages? You won’t get bored. Your workday will include rewarding periods because some of the tasks are fun. You’ll make progress on things you’re avoiding—like, for me, making a dentist appointment—because 6 minutes just isn’t that much, and, however agonizing the task, you know it will be over soon.
But it does work for some people. I mentioned this on a podcast, and a week later, I got a sort of celebrity endorsement from Oliver Burkeman, in his newsletter The Imperfectionist.
Splendidly nerdy! I can live with that
