From Edie: A.C. Williams reveals an unexpected secret to writing productivity and shares how one simple practice can prevent burnout and restore creativity.
The Writing Productivity Secret That Has Nothing to Do with Writing
by A.C. Williams @ACW_Author
Looking for a productivity hack for your writing?
It’s not a new software, although several new ones have hit the market recently and are very useful. It’s not a new process, although many Youtubers have tried recreating famous authors’ writing routines to various degrees of success. It’s not even a new craft book that teaches you to draft faster.
It’s actually not new at all.
The key to productivity is an ancient principle, one that was established thousands and thousands of years ago: Sabbath.
Some people may believe that the idea of Sabbath is only for religious purposes, and while God is the one who instituted Sabbath, we make a mistake when we connect it solely to church-related activities. Sabbath is a lifestyle, and if we ignore it, we are heading inexorably toward burn out.
It is true, though, that Sabbath is an act of faith, but it’s also a choice to obey. For those who believe in and follow the words of the Bible, Sabbath isn’t a suggestion.
I made a mistake in my younger years, though. I had gotten the idea in my head that Sabbath existed to give you a break from the normal everyday grind, that it was there to give us a break from our daily work. And while that is certainly the case, it’s not the whole story. Sabbath exists also to keep us from burning ourselves out on things we love doing.
Even good things can exhaust us if we don’t learn how to rest.
It’s not intuitive. Our human minds tell us that if we want to accomplish more, we have to do more, but that’s not how we function best. Maybe at the start, you can accomplish an extraordinary amount, but you can’t keep it up long term. Eventually your productivity will decline, and it won’t just be your productivity—it will be everything in your life.
Sometimes more isn’t more, and when you are flailing in the throes of burnout, the more you try to accomplish, the less you will actually get done. But how do you get to the place where you can stop everything you’re doing? That’s the question I hear most of the time. We get so bogged down with all the projects we’re working on that it seems impossible to stop doing everything.
I was there several years ago, so frazzled and weary and frustrated, because no matter how diligently I tried to work harder, I was getting less and less done. What I had to do was take a step back and breathe. I sat down with two of my closest friends, and we basically set my calendar on fire.
We looked at everything I had agreed to do and (after my friends finished fussing at me for over-committing), they helped me evaluate all of it. We established the three primary goals in my professional life, and we used that as the measuring rod to determine if all the events and activities in my life were aligned. Many of them were not. Many of the things I had agreed to do, I had agreed to do out of guilt or duty—not because they contributed to what I had been called to do.
Obviously, the events on my calendar that were already set had to be completed. I couldn’t just back out of a class I had agreed to teach or a conference where I was on faculty, but some of the extra volunteering I was doing could be dropped. Some more boundaries on my daily workload could be addressed. Some of the unpaid freelance writing I was doing could be set aside. If it didn’t align with the three primary goals of my professional life, it was on the chopping block.
Then, from there, I only agreed to events or projects that would support those goals. That made a huge difference, but the biggest change I made was to block out an entire day so that I could rest, doing neither my full-time job work or my writing work. An honest-to-goodness Sabbath.
It doesn’t have to be a Sunday. It doesn’t have to be a weekend. Find a day in your schedule where you can stop working and spend the day resting, doing what refreshes your soul and spirit. Then, block it off and protect it. Days of rest won’t just happen; you have to make them happen intentionally.
Back when I first did this, I didn’t believe it would make a difference. I didn’t believe that it was possible to accomplish more by doing less, but within two weeks I was singing a different tune. Within those two weeks, I had finished everything on my task list (and had finished it well) and had been able to keep my days of rest. My mind was clearer, my focus was stronger, and the world didn’t feel like it was sitting on my shoulders.
If you are struggling to complete your projects, give Sabbath rest a try. It might not seem like the logical solution, but it will revolutionize your creativity—and the rest of your life too.
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