The Storyteller’s Mission with Zena Dell Lowe

Immediately Improve Your Ability to Set Goals and Meet Deadlines with This One Easy Tip

July 21, 2022 Zena Dell Lowe Season 2 Episode 47
The Storyteller’s Mission with Zena Dell Lowe
Immediately Improve Your Ability to Set Goals and Meet Deadlines with This One Easy Tip
Show Notes Transcript

S2_E47: When Deadlines Aren't Enough

EPISODE DESCRIPTION - Last Week I gave you my 10 Essential Principles for creating an active hero. This week we go into the writer's dilemma of procrastination, or putting aside our writing projects for things that feel more urgent.

The first thing I've realized is that I need to set goals. Places to submit my work where others will judge and critique it. This is helpful for writers because not only does it create a deadline that you can't push back, but it allows you to see where you are in the market place of ideas. Where does your story fall? Is your writing up to the level you need it to be to compete? Etc.

The second thing I've realized is that, because a novel, or a screenplay can seem so large, and take so long in comparison to other smaller projects (i.e. laundry, weeding, dishes) writers tend to put it off completely. The best way to combat this is to set small weekly goals. Ten pages a week for example is one that I frequently use. Which leads me to number three.

These smaller weekly goals are helpful to me because it allows me to reframe the way I see my progress and ultimately view my work. If I only got three pages written one day, out of the entirety of the novel that seems pretty small. However, if I got 3 pages done, and I've set the goal of 10 pages for myself that week, then I only have 7 pages left. Do you see how that feels less daunting?

Listen here for a more in depth discussion on how I have learned to reframe and overcome the  tyranny of the urgent to finish my WIPs. 

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THE STORYTELLER’S MISSION WITH ZENA DELL LOWE
S2_E47: When Deadlines Aren’t Enough
PODCAST TRANSCRIPT
 

Published July 21, 2022

00:01
INTRO: Hello, and welcome to The Storyteller's Mission with Zena Dell Lowe, a podcast for artists and storytellers about changing the world for the better through story. 

00:13
TOPIC INTRO: Today, what I want to talk about is a professional breakthrough that I had a few years ago that has actually really helped me to become more productive as a writer to not become so overwhelmed or defeated. So that I can actually keep plugging away and keep plodding along, if you will, in my story. Because it is hard to do this, it is hard. The amount of energy and time and effort that it takes to complete a long form project, whether it be a screenplay, or a novel, or anything in between. It is hard, it is really hard. And so we need things to help keep us going. 

00:59
PRESENTATION: One of the things that I realized for myself is that deadlines are not enough, a self imposed deadline doesn't create the urgency that I need in order for me to get things done. Instead, it's got to be a deadline outside of myself finishing in time for a particular competition, or for an upcoming Writer's Conference that I've registered for. So that gives me a sense of urgency, it gives me something to aim for. It gives me a reason to get it done by this date, I need that and it fuels my desire to finish.

01:35
EXAMPLE #1: I want to complete my project by the time x happens so that I can present that to show to potential agents or producers or publishers, or whatever the case may be. Obviously, I need to give myself enough time to reasonably accomplish that project and to do it well. 

01:55
Because the worst thing I could do is prematurely show my work to people of that caliber, and then I've ruined that first opportunity. That first impression opportunity to make myself look good. So I need to make sure it's good by the time I present it. Nevertheless, you still want to think ahead. 

02:17
You would want to look and see well, is there something coming up? Or is there some goal that I can have for some purpose? For me, that's often a particular competition. I like to see where my stuff places in comparison with other people who are writing like or similar stuff. Because that tells me where I'm going to land in the marketplace of ideas. Am I good enough yet? Am I good enough yet? And it just helps me to get a better gauge of where I fit. 

02:47
Okay, so you want to be looking for those types of opportunities that help give you a deadline that is beyond just your self imposed one, something that is going to give you the urgency that you need to actually plod through it.

03:04
EXAMPLE #2: But this leads me to number two here. Sometimes I need something more than just a broad deadline for my project. Instead, I need weekly goals, I need to set weekly goals. And here's why. One of the reasons is because it helps me to maintain momentum.

03:25
I have a problem with editing my work as I go, I have a real problem with it, I will get stuck, I will stop halfway through my novel and then just keep going back and editing and editing and trying to make the first half perfect. When the truth is I'm probably going to go back and rewrite most of that or a lot of it anyway, based on what comes next. Because that's what we do. And so it's silly for me to spend all that time doing it and I have a real problem I know I do. 

03:53
So again, having a general deadline for a project often isn't going to help me maintain enough momentum to even meet that deadline. Because I have this problem, this personal problem, of trying to edit my stuff as I go. Which means I need something smaller, something more tangible, something more urgent, more immediate to attain. And for me, this helps me if I have a weekly writing goal that I'm trying to meet. 

04:28
Now what happens with a lot of us is we get sidetracked by the tyranny of the urgent, right? We can get sidetracked by, "Well, 'this' needs to be done this week, and 'this' needs to be done this week." And a big project, when I look at my novel in the face of everything else I have to do… just doesn't seem as important. 

04:50
Which is also why it helps me to break it down into smaller chunks. Now all of a sudden, I don't need to get to chapter 47. All I need to do is write 10 pages this week. And now that's helping me keep up momentum. Even though it's a much slower pace, maybe or it's not the big picture, I'm making progress. I'm making small, incremental progress. 

05:16
If I don't have that I get overwhelmed. It's too big for me. I'm too overwhelmed, and I get discouraged. And I want to give up, I feel defeated because I can't see the end. So now all of a sudden, I don't sacrifice my writing time for things that feel more pressing, because I only have to get 10 pages done, or whatever the case may be. 

05:42
We will feel the pressure to do other things besides right, that's just the way it is. We know this, it is something that happens over and over again. And reasonably, we assume, "Well, I guess I don't really want to do the writing." When we make those sacrifices, we're told that writers write, right? So here we go. We keep sacrificing those things for these other things that feel more pressing. And eventually we start to question whether or not we're really writers in the first place. 

06:13
Maybe this is just me, but maybe you can relate to this. I recently had a friend tell me that she needed to want to do the writing as much as she wanted to do these other things. But apparently, she didn't really want to be writing because she kept doing all the other things. And she didn't do the writing. 

06:32
And I don't actually think that that's the case. I don't actually think that her problem is that she didn't really want to write as much. I think her problem was, is that the tyranny of the urgent had put so much pressure on her... she was still thinking of the story or the writing in such big terms that it was too overwhelming. She hadn't broken it up into bite-able chunks, small bite-able chunks that she could actually sink her teeth into. That's the thing. 

07:03
And when we don't have the smaller chunks, it's just easier to do the little things that are the tyranny of the urgent because we can see immediate progress, there's a payoff right away. So see, I think that tends to be what happens. The the immediate things give us immediate satisfaction.

07:26
There's a payoff right away. Which again, is why we want to give ourselves smaller chunks. One of the things that I love to do is… yard work, I love my backyard. I have beautiful flowers, I have pots. And when I do yard work, it's because I can see immediate improvement. If I'm weeding this particular part of my garden by God, it looks great when I'm done weeding it, I see immediate, tangible results, which gives me an immediate payoff. 

08:02
I can see the progress now. And I can feel good about it. Once that project is complete, I see it and it takes less time to be complete than a novel. And it's more visible and visual and tangible. It's right there, I can see it with my own two eyes. 

08:20
The problem with telling a story is that it can sometimes take years in some cases to complete the story well. Certainly if we have sequels or we have multiple stories being told it can sometimes take years. So it is difficult for us to maintain a level of urgency or a level of commitment that produces a beneficial payoff a satisfactory payoff. I believe that you do have a project, but the progress is so slow going. 

08:54
And the results are therefore so nebulous, so intangible, that you keep being distracted by things that are going to give you a greater payoff. And that feels like they carry a greater sense of weight or importance. 

09:12
The other day, I sat down to write, and I wrote all day. I literally wrote for eight or nine hours solid. I set aside all that time and I wrote for eight or nine hours solid. Guess how many pages I completed. Three. Eight hours conservatively, and I got three pages done. Well holy cow. If I'm trying to write a whole novel, that feels so pathetic, so small, so mediocre, so minuscule, that it's just demoralizing. 

09:58
It makes you want to give up three pages feels like I barely made a dent. I mean, what did I actually accomplish? Right? That's how it happens. So this is again, why it's better to set weekly goals than it is just project deadlines. Because now if I have a goal to accomplish 10 pages a week. Now all of a sudden, those three pages got me somewhere. Right? Now all of a sudden, I see it as a good thing, rather than a bad thing or a demoralizing thing. 

10:41
The question becomes, is the effort worth the payoff? Right? The effort that we're putting in. Are we getting enough out of it? So we have to trick ourselves in many cases, we have to reframe the payoff that we're actually getting, so that it becomes worth it. 

11:00
EXAMPLE #3: So if I'm working on a novel, which runs between, say, 80,000 and 95,000 words - which is what most standalone novels run - it means that I'm looking at 300, double spaced, typed pages or more. So I'm writing a 300 page novel and I only got three pages done. Or whatever the case may be, it seems so daunting, so hopeless, demoralizing. 

11:27
If it's a screenplay, which are much shorter, even, I'm shooting between 100 and 120 pages, and I got three pages done. Actually finishing the rest feels like it's going to take forever. So no wonder if other matters, see more pressing. You can write three pages anytime but this laundry isn't going to do itself. It's this reality that tends to slow progress or this false reality in many cases, because I can always find something more imminent and pressing and paying off better, more satisfying than my current WIP, or work in progress. So again, what do you do? 

12:07
Well, I have found that it helps to set those weekly goals of page count or word count, rather than think of the project as a whole. The goal in all of this, as you can see, is to simply reframe it. So that all of a sudden, it becomes a good thing that you got the three pages done rather than a bad thing. And you don't feel like a failure anymore. 

12:28
You're turning the I only got three pages done into, Oh, yay, I only have seven more to go. That's the reframing. Breaking the goal into smaller chunks, helps you keep up the momentum, helps you feel better about yourself, helps you feel better about the progress that you're making. 

12:43
CONCLUSION: The small incremental progress feels like it's moving you somewhere, which then gives you the satisfaction that we actually need to sustain us to keep going. 

13:03
It actually looks like a weeded garden now. Because you only have to make those 10 pages this week, and by God, we got three done. And now I feel good... I'm less likely to be sidetracked by something that either seems more pressing or achievable, or gives me a better payoff, a more satisfying payoff. It feels better once I've accomplished it. That's what we're trying to do. And that's helped me a lot as a writer. 

13:33
CALL TO ACTION: So I hope that it has helped you too. I want to thank you for joining me on this episode of The Storyteller's Mission. We are trying to find a way to monetize this podcast so that we can make more of them. And it would help if we had support from those that listen to the show regularly and feel that they're getting something valuable out of it. If you are that person, would you consider contributing to help support the show to help keep the show going? So that we can actually generate content for you that is useful as a writer. 

14:08
You can do that by going to the support the show link, which is in the notes section of the podcast, it will take you to our PayPal page, where you can donate via PayPal. We really don't want to have to interrupt the show, through commercials or those types of things. So that we have enough money to support the show, we would rather keep the momentum up for you so that you're not interrupted. 

14:34
May I ask, that You would help get the word out about the show? That you would share this show with just one other writer. Just help spread the word, help get the audience out there so that we might be able to attract some sponsors. And that way, we have everything we need to continue to create the content that is most useful to you. So help us get the word out. Write a review. Share this on social media. Help us reach more audience members so that we will attract bigger and better sponsors for the show. 

15:08
OUTRO: Thank you for listening to The Storyteller's Mission with Zena Dell Lowe. May you go forth inspired, to change the world for the better, through story.