Americans, more than any other nationality on earth, are obsessed with efficiency. In fact, it was America that gave birth to the Efficiency Movement, spearheaded by Frederick Taylor in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Taylor would come into factory and construction settings and study them until he came up with the most efficient method […]
time management
Big Question, Writing Prompt: Ideal Day
Happy Monday morning! As you begin your workweek, before you jump into the minutiae of everyday work and life, take a moment to step back and ask yourself a Big Question. This can be a writing prompt, or just a question to ponder during the day. What would your ideal day look like? (Note: this “ideal […]
When The Writing Gets Hard
Last week on Pinterest… (doesn’t that sound like the intro for a really boring sitcom?) I read and pinned a blog post claiming to help me write 10,000 words in a single day. The author of the post made some good points, and although 10,000 is an impossible goal for someone who doesn’t write full-time (as the author […]
Work Begets Work
Have you ever sat down at the end of a busy day of work and thought, “I can’t believe I accomplished so much in such a short time?” Have you ever found yourself in the middle of the afternoon on a weekend, wondering how you could have spent almost an entire day without doing anything productive? That’s […]
Purpose, Simplified
Let’s kick off the PURPOSE-ful month of August by simply defining what it is, and figuring out how to find it. To my mind, finding purpose is the art of asking yourself personal “why” questions; purpose itself lies in the answers to those questions. For example: Purpose: Parenting Question: “Why do I want to be a parent?” The […]
Another Mini Gem by Ms. Vanderkam
Regular readers will all know by now that I’m a big fan of Laura Vanderkam (168 Hours; All the Money in the World). This is my third blog post about her in less than a year, which is more than I can say for any of my favorite fiction writers. I can’t help it; she’s current, […]