I’ve been bunkered down in my house and it’s all starting to get a little real. Between my day job, my national board certification, and my book deadline I’ve been daydreaming about June, when I can enjoy my garden, writing, and get some peace and quiet. Until then I have six months of hustle.

To help make it easier, I’ve been using a series of binders, Post-Its, and now… drum roll please… colored pencils!

Productivity trackers are nothing new, but to help get stuff done you have to find the right one and stick to it. Making a hundred different to-do lists can feel productive, but if you never actually cross anything off, it may not be the best way to motivate yourself. Personally, I have enjoyed a few ways to track my productivity, but it all boils down to three simple tricks:

Set Realistic Deadlines

Sure you can publish in two weeks if you don’t sleep, don’t see family, and power through. But what is the likelihood that you can do that without burning out? After four hours of typing away, are you sure you won’t end up on social media or reorganizing your desk for the 15th time? We need to be realistic about what we can expect to do daily, knowing our schedules and our habits and planning accordingly. Otherwise you’re cheating your product and going to disappoint yourself one way or another.

Backwards plan from your deadline to calculate your data quota

Once you have a firm deadline, you can do the math and honestly this is my favorite part. Again fair warning, I always like to give myself a little padding on the end for unexpected events, delays, and just life in general. Once you budget for your cushion, you can divide your total among the number of days or weeks you have until your deadline. For example, I have a fifty-two chapter book that needs to be polished before going off to the proofreader in mid-March. Why mid-March you ask? Because I back planned from my deadline in June and want to give myself a healthy two months to buff out any final changes while I prepare to launch. Anywho going back to now, well we are two weeks into January, and so I have two months to get the rest of my book done. I already have 16 chapters done, so I have to edit thirty-six chapters in over eight weeks, doesn’t divide well, so to build in cushion I can round up to forty, which leaves me with a weekly quota of five chapters a week. Now that’s doable!

Be disciplined and reward yourself!

Before you grab that credit card, I’m talking tiny rewards and you have to earn them. This can be as simple as I get an M&M after I finish a chapter, or something a little more creative like stickers in bullet journals, or coloring a heart, which is what I’m doing now and the best news is that it’s working!!! I have to say, once you draw out fifty-two hearts and color them in, it takes it all back to a more elementary level and makes something way more approachable.

Now of course, once you hit a big goal of finishing the final product or publishing, then I’d say you’ve earned a real treat. In fact, I’m doing that too. After a year like this one, I’m heading to Disney for the first time since 1998! Time to pull out the ears and get a Dole whip! Between you and me though, I just can’t wait to doze off by the pool.

Onwards to June!

Kathryn