đ§ I was talking with a friend this week who was having trouble working with her brain. Well, thatâs not really accurate, more she was having trouble being allowed to work with her brain due to a micromanaging boss.
Hereâs what was going on: My friend was assigned a long list of to-dos by her manager, content she had to create, assignments she was responsible to produce, etc. Except her boss had actually laid out the order in which these things should be accomplished.
OK, you ask, whatâs wrong with this. Whatâs wrong is, not only did it not matter which of the tasks were done first or last, but it was also anathema to how my friendâs brain worked. She preferred to organize her tasks according to how her brain responded to her workload. Perhaps thatâs harder or more concentrated writing work earlier in the day vs. easier, less brainy work during the slump times of the afternoon when she had less energy or brain power to devote.
đ As independent and freelance writers and content creators, we probably can relate. Many of us indeed set up our workday working with our brain. That means if you get your best writing work done at 8 am, you likely try not to put it off until 4 pm. If your energy flags after lunch, or during say, a 3 pm slump, you probably donât use that time to complete your dayâs hardest writing.
Itâs the same for tasks like emailing, invoicing and the accounting housekeeping you must do for your business. You likely donât schedule it during prime-time brain optimization hours, say at 10 am or 8 pm if youâre a night writer.
This is what it means to work with your brain. And unfortunately, some who still have micromanaging editors or managers in the workplace are expected to overwrite working with their brain in favor of doing things differently, as their managers suggest.
For us who still control when and where and how we arrange our prime-time brain work, hereâs some thoughts on making your brain work best for you.
·      SERIOUS WRITING: Schedule your hardest, most important writing work for when you feel at the top of your game. For some that means first thing out of the gate, yet others it may mean later in the morning at 11 or noon when your juices get fired up. And for still others, that time may be in the evening when the house is quiet and nothing else vies for your attention.
·      ROTE TASKS: Arrange to accomplish mundane work like sending invoices or answering emails, arranging interviews, coordinating calendars and the like for when you have the least available brain power. Again, that time will vary for most of us and could include early morning, as a way to ramp up your day, or late afternoon when itâs obvious that arranging interviews is the brunt of your capacity. In fact, that or eating a handful of almonds to help see you through may be all youâre good for then. Still, for others these may be your nighttime favorite tasks.
·   IN BETWEEN: Finally, for tasks that take some brain power but not top-of-your-game powerâresearch, outlining, marketing, pitchingâyou may find these schedule nicely between the other two extremesâyou donât quite need your most creative self but you do need some skill, attention to detail, and creative juices when marketing and pitching and finding new clients. You might do well to select the odd times of day for these tasks such as 10 am after an hour of serious writing work, or say, 1pm, after lunch but before you need to get down to some deep concentrated work for your afternoon.
Regardless of where in your day you schedule the various tasks, content, writing, research and housekeeping that make up your days and weeks, work with your brain to optimize when youâre functioning your best and when you know you only have the brain power to accomplish little else. Your work and your work life will be so much better for working with your brain.
đđ» And be grateful that there isnât a micromanaging editor trying to get you to work against your brain.
Who/What/Where to Watch
Reading more than usual? Apparently, one pandemic positive is weâre becoming readers again though I never really thought we werenât.
No trick or treaters this year? Still, find out where your fave Halloween candy stacks up on this list. And treat yourself.Â
Is your creativity in a rut lately? Hereâs some tips to work it loose.
Think your book may be hard to get a publisher? Check out this route-to-publishing-success saga.Â
Even Poe had to chase down his checks. This Baltimore Sun article extols the value of this recently sold-at- auction letter from Edgar Allen Poe to his publisher looking to be paid.
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