On Sundays, I schedule a block of time to complete my planning for the entire week ahead. I make audacious plans and try to stuff 20 pounds of potatoes in a five-pound sack. Sleeping is overrated, bathroom breaks are an inconvenience, and eating is optional. Aren’t they? Every project on my list should only take a couple of minutes. Right? Oh, how very wrong. I know the trap of this misconception going into my planning session. I expect projects will require extra, unforeseen work, and I allow for my over-optimistic projections.

My first task is scheduling the non-negotiables. The dreaded 9-5 work hours, meetings, solid, unmovable deadlines, and self-imposed promises sort into this category. On days heavy with meetings and lots of interruptions, I put on my manager’s hat. I try to load these days with meetings, errands, check-in phone calls, and other short-burst administrative-type activities. If I must work in hourly task-changing mode, I pile it on and get as many of those annoying requirements handled as possible.

Where I have large blocks of uninterrupted time is when I put on my creator’s hat. These days I schedule tasks that demand deep concentration, require attention to detail, and kicking my critical mind to the curb, so I  can allow my creative side to take over. Knowing I can focus and ignore the clock frees me and lets me find my project’s flow state.

Since I began scheduling my weeks, my productivity has soared, and the number of tasks I complete during the week has left me speechless. The main factor in effecting the changes lies in taking control. Grouping like tasks together and creating uninterrupted chunks of hours for time-intensive activities has made an enormous difference.

Do you schedule your week’s activities?

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Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer

The only thing better than selecting a book on Saturday afternoon is grabbing one on Saturday morning and spending the entire weekend reading. It is not indulgent. My decision to spend quality time with my nose buried between actual paper pages is supported by lots of research.

Studies show a regular reading habit improves brain connectivity, increases your vocabulary and comprehension, empowers you to empathize with other people, aids in sleep readiness, reduces stress, lowers blood pressure and heart rate, fights depression symptoms, prevents cognitive decline, and contributes to a longer life.

Who am I to argue? Especially since my favorite benefit from reading is it supposedly makes you a better writer. The specific genre doesn’t change the positive benefits. But the prevailing consensus is reading a physical book in the same genre you want to write is better than reading from a device. These are not the sole reason I love reading physical books. There is a tactile component, the smell, and I can write in the margins, highlight text, and (horror) dog-ear pages. I try to limit my “book mutilations” to copies I own, but sometimes I forget myself.

It is something I have done for as long as I can remember, and it turns out it is a “thing.” Marginalia or Scholia are the marks or comments left in the margins of books. The earliest scholia date to the 5th or 4th century BC. In college, I scoured the used textbook section where I searched for annotated texts for my current semester’s courses. Some of those “defaced” texts were pure gold.

There is another aspect of reading I enjoy. I love speaking with fellow readers, discovering we have read the same book and discussing it at length. Those conversations form bonds, develop connections, and reveal personality traits, beliefs, and thought processes like few other types of communications can. Is it any surprise some of my best friends are avid readers?

Do you have a reading habit?

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Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer

No one ever mistakes me as a patient person. Never. I don’t know why everything didn’t happen yesterday, but I also have high standards. Trust me, the desire for perfection and quick results is a tricky recipe to execute. I stand in front of the microwave, beg it to hurry, and am constantly disappointed by an abysmal dinner that looks nothing like the picture. I force myself to remember the adage about the three kinds of service. It can be good, cheap, or fast. The catch is you can’t have everything. Good and Cheap, won’t be Fast. Cheap and Fast won’t be Good, and Fast and Good won’t be Cheap.

Life is a balancing act, a decision-making exercise. Is this a champagne occasion, or will water suffice? Do I imagine the item I’m creating will endure for generations, or does completing a task and removing it from my To-Do list make me jump for joy? My Achille’s heel is I have a quality gene running through my DNA. No matter what logic tells me, my heart never wants to settle for second best.

The struggle extends to my writing sessions. I believe every word matters, phrases should be beautiful, and I should convey ideas, thought processes, and information in ways designed to inspire readers. I can spend hours editing, polishing, and analyzing every nuance in a few hundred words. I want to create masterpieces. But I also want to complete the piece and send it on its way. In my world, there are deadlines, projects competing for my attention, and a limited window of productivity before my body shuts down and requires sleep. So, I take a deep breath, deem it good enough, and hit the publish button.

How do you balance Good, Cheap, and Fast?

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Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer

Doing nothing is an impossible assignment for me. It is a foreign concept. Literally. They call it Niksen, which is Dutch for the art of doing nothing. It is uncomfortable. It feels wasteful and smacks of evil. Yes, evil. Have you not heard “Idle hands are the devil’s playthings”? They attribute the quote to Benjamin Franklin, so it must be correct. Yet, when do we do nothing? Most of us constantly check our phones, send texts while binge-watching the entire season of the latest “must-see” miniseries as we mindlessly eat dinner. They teach us engaging in busyness is vital, predictive of our success. Inactivity means we are lazy, unproductive, and are not contributing to society.

Is it true? What are we producing when we view a tv show? How productive are we flitting and fluttering from task to text, juggling our over-scheduled lives? What if we took a moment to revel in the rising sun’s beauty while we sip our morning coffee? Would calm and peace influence and have a positive impact on our entire week? Would we boost our overall daily productivity, increase creativity, become better problem solvers, and improve our mental health?

So, lately, I have tweaked my schedule to allow myself to ease into my day. I have stopped playing video games and swapped it with a program to learn another language. The substitution lets me relax while also enhancing my knowledge. With one minor change, I can accomplish two goals in the same time frame. And it gives me more time to do nothing.

Do you grant yourself space for nothing?

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Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer

We’ve all experienced the stark terror of staring at a blank page. While we may have an intended topic or a brilliant idea, the thought of conquering the unknown mocks us, and we freeze. What is more perfect than a snowy white page? How can we possibly live up to the expectations? How do we proceed? An old saying counsels that we make a trail by walking. It is when we turn around that we “find” a path. Art teachers encourage their students to make one mark on the canvas.

Sheer physical willpower is my answer. Whether it is bold and daring or meek and uncertain, action leads to action. I force my fingers to move. I ignore the panic and type whatever words reach my fingertips. No matter how crazy it sounds or banal or weird the phrases seem, I let them flow. I push negative thoughts from my mind, hush my inner critic, and turn off my editor.

With each successive word, the process becomes less forced, and I can feel a trickle that promises the flood. As I relax, sentences emerge, which quickly spin into paragraphs. Hours pass, and the once empty page, now overflows, leaking across multiple sheets with a story.

How do you conquer a blank page?

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Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer

Music is an integral component of my life. I enjoy everything from classical to jazz, country to hip-hop, heavy metal, alternative, new age, folk, rap. If it has a steady rhythm, my toes tap, my body sways, and emotions bubble to the surface. In most cases, if you hum a few notes, I can name the tune. I only attempt to sing if I know I am alone.

Every road trip requires a soundtrack, and even a quick jaunt to the grocery store can’t happen without a song blaring on the radio. Cleaning my house is effortless when the music plays. Movies would be less dramatic. We wouldn’t have a reason to dance, and if there were no soothing lullabies, babies would have to cry themselves to sleep. My morning walks would be unbearable without a measured beat to move my feet. They design playlists to help you achieve a 20-minute mile, a 15-minute mile, or any combination you can imagine. Without songs pushing me forward, I would find a shortcut home.

But when music becomes magical for me is when I am writing. If I am staring at a blank page, it is easy to pick a lyric, a few words and use them as my starting point. When the house is loud and disruptive, and I need to concentrate, the tunes I pump through my headphones become white noise. I hear my thoughts and words flow onto the page. Music rescues me again as I search for just the right word. It never fails. The lead vocalist provides the word or phrase I need to make my sentence sing.

What is your favorite music?

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Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer

No matter how chaotic, demanding, or plain bat-shit crazy my days get, I try to carve out space and time to do absolutely nothing. Depending on the day, I have conducted my moments of solitude in a public bathroom stall, a walk-in closet, an ice-covered hotel balcony in sub-zero weather, or locked in my car either without leaving the driveway or in the grocery store parking lot. In each case, I embrace silence. I listen to the world turn, notice that I am breathing and welcome the opportunity to hear myself think. Whether it is two minutes or five, when frostbite starts to claim my fingertips, or when the police officer taps on my window, I use those brief periods to hold on to my sanity. Hey, we can’t all be like Thoreau and hang out at Walden Pond, to commune with nature and contemplate our inner selves.

Disappearing, taking two steps back creates distance and perspective between the muck and me. It allows me to glimpse the horizon, enjoy the stillness, and exist. Pushing it all away changes me from a frantic, reactionary chicken without its head into a thoughtful individual who can imagine something new. It is not uncommon for a solution to magically appear. Or perhaps I recognize the maelstrom is a lot of fuss over an insignificant trifle.

It goes against every motivational mantra, but sometimes our best work emerges when we are not working. It seems like a foreign concept. How do we justify unplugging for a few hours, days, or even weeks, in a 24/7/365 wired up, hustle-junkie world? Perhaps the better question is can we afford not to unplug? Stepping away from external forces lets the deeper inner world blossom, and that is where creativity and meaning live. Our inner world is where our work takes its genesis, productivity explodes, and figments of our imagination become real.

Will you take two steps back today?

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Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer

Sunday mornings present an excellent opportunity to spend a few moments breathing, connecting with our inner selves, and looking towards what lies on the path ahead of us. This Sunday, I am questioning my sanity. I decided to embark on an epic journey. That is when the voices in my head started. I bet you know what they said. Things like, “Who do you think you are?” or “You’ve got a lot of nerve.” I recognize those words and the voice. They belong to the self-destructive beast named Self-doubt.

The monster rears its ugly head whenever it senses we are about to try something different and step out of our usual routine. Self-doubt will self-sabotage your best intentions if you are not vigilant. It will point out every reason you shouldn’t even try. It’s raining outside. The wind is blowing. You might fail, and then again, you might succeed, and what will happen then? I know. I once let the beast stop me until I learned how to permit myself to risk being brave.

Buried deep inside of us is an excellent chance of winning. But we must push aside the naysayers, ignore the dream-crushers and the misgivings, avoid overthinking and second-guessing our decisions, and listen to our guts. Now when the beast speaks, I lean into my fear, do a gut check, and trusting myself, I dare to move forward.

Do you trust yourself?

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Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer

Have you ever tried to ride a bike r-e-a-l-l-y slowly? It requires both hands on the handlebars, lots of steering, over-steering, under-steering, concentration, control, and a conscious effort to not think about crashing. But when you increase your speed, release your need for controlling every minute detail, and trust the idea that your momentum will carry you forward, something incredible happens. The wind rushes at you. It is exhilarating, and you scream at the top of your lungs, “Look, Mom. No hands.” Then you wave with a ridiculous grin plastered across your face as you whoosh by.

It’s easy to fall into the alluring trap of wanting certainty and control in our lives. Exercising control over specific aspects of our lives is beneficial. With our basic needs met, staying healthy, ensuring financial security, and maintaining solid relationships with friends and family, we can learn to trust and appreciate unexpected events.

These same feelings came up in a few of my writing sessions this week as I fought to stay in control of the piece I was writing. I struggled to craft the perfect sentence with precise words that lead to a foregone conclusion. I plodded and toiled and time ticked past with little to show for my efforts. Firmly controlling every detail of my progress resulted in slow progress. I became angry and frustrated with the appalling lack of words on the page at the end of an hour.

So, I tried something different. I relaxed into the rhythm of my thoughts and trusted that the storyteller inside me would provide the phrases to keep my momentum alive. I stopped sweating the small stuff. My speed increased, and the blank page overflowed with an unbelievable torrent of paragraphs that spilled onto multiple pages. I started grinning like an enthusiastic child riding a bike with no hands.

Are you going fast enough?

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Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer

“Pike’s Peak or Bust!” That was the slogan uttered by would-be miners who contracted gold fever after Green Russell and Sam Bates mined twenty troy ounces of gold near Little Dry Creek in current day Englewood, Colorado. The phrase embodies a “do or die” mentality, and the sense of desperation is palatable. There is no other option, no further recourse, no viable alternative, and no Plan B. The prospectors knew the odds and prepared for back-breaking work in search of precious golden flakes.

Today, we hear people tell us impressive achievement emanates from a big dream. Visualize your heart’s desire, and attraction brings it to you. Success requires more than good thoughts. You can imagine your six-pack abs, but they won’t materialize unless you commit to doing the reps. Completing a regular exercise regime guarantees results. Many individuals say they wish to become a writer. You must determine how desperately you crave the title of author. You must want to write.

The daily grind is arduous. No one is born a master of their field. Practice, patience, perseverance, and dogged determination are the qualities required to get through the learning curve. Mastery feels like a never-ending journey. Every day we decide whether we keep going or if we quit. For me, quitting is not an option.

How desperate are you?

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Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer