Today, being a writer means to undertake so many projects at the same time that the work seems endless. Projects big and small take up all of your time and it begins to overwhelm your daily life. The result of overworking is rarely success. The only result of being overworked is constant exhaustion. Moreover, when you’re constantly exhausted, when you find yourself working ten to twelve hours(or more) every day for many days, you will probably notice that everything you do needs to be redone. However, there are plenty of ways you can avoid overworking yourself.

1. Avoid multitasking

Many people seem to consider multitasking as a sign of being successful in your field, and as a sign of competence. In other words, you are very skilled if you’re able to multitask. The truth is that multitasking is rarely a sign of being skilled or intelligent. When you’re multitasking, you have to split your focus between many projects in order to do them at, relatively, the same time, or the same day. In turn, you’re not excelling in your projects. You become overworked, overwhelmed and produce average results. Tackle each project one at a time. Instead of splitting your focus in ten different places at once, focus on one thing at a time. You will finish faster, and the results will be better.

2. Get important projects out of the way

Writers tend to have many tasks, the main task being writing: a novel, a blog post, an article, or a short story – and maybe, all of these at once. There are also the tasks that have befallen the modern author concerning online presence and marketing, mainly rising from the fact that writers today need to be on top of these things as well. There are only so many hours within the day. Do not try to get everything done. Prioritize instead. You alone can rate your pressing tasks and projects – and you can begin to clear them up, one by one. A very good way of finishing your projects is to focus on the projects that are bigger and more difficult and finish them first in the day, and leave the easier projects for later. This will ensure that you have the energy required to focus on the big project and do it faster. Otherwise, the small projects will tire you out, and then the big project will take up a lot more time to finish.

3. Daily schedules

You know best which time of day is the most productive for you. It might be as soon as you wake up in the morning, or it might be after lunch. You need to create daily schedules where you will plan your activities. Save the most productive hours for writing or working on big projects, and the hours when you get tired can be used to focus on different tasks. Another benefit from creating a schedule is that if you follow it every day, it will become a habit and increase your productivity in the long term.

4. Know when to stop

Another aspect of being overworked is that sometimes, you don’t know when to stop. This means that in your daily schedule, you must plan a time, or an hour, where you stop and clock out. Writers usually work from home, but this doesn’t mean you need to be working around the clock and only stop for meals. Keep track of how many hours you’re working and know when you need to stop. If something small comes up – or you simply need to finish that chapter, even if you’ve been writing for hours already – then you should stop. The end of that chapter will probably turn out better if you write it the following day, rested and refreshed.

5. Plan a relaxing routine

A relaxing routine, together with healthy sleep schedules, will ensure that every one of your stories, novels or other writing – related projects will be excellent. As previously said, you need to create a work schedule – and you need to add relaxing routines into your day. A relaxing routine doesn’t refer only to exercise, doing yoga, or meditating. Also, brainstorming for stories and plots do not count as relaxing. Walk your dog, instead, or go for some drinks with friends. Go shopping, or cook dinner. Anything can be a relaxing activity, as long as it is not related to your writing, or other pressing projects. The goal is to use this activity to take your mind off of your work and recharge your batteries, so that you can increase your levels of productivity. Remember, productivity isn’t measured in how long you work, but in the results of your projects.

Image credit: Pixabay

Georgina Roy wants to live in a world filled with magic. As an art student, she’s moonlighting as a writer and is content to fill notebooks and sketchbooks with magical creatures and amazing new worlds. When she is not at school, or scribbling away in a notebook, you can usually find her curled up, reading a good urban fantasy novel, or writing on her laptop, trying to create her own.