Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning.
Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
Speaker 1: tip is that with a short push, you might be
Speaker 1: able to finish a project that has been lingering on
Speaker 1: your to do list. Give yourself thirty days and see
Speaker 1: what you can do. It won't be perfect, but it
Speaker 1: just might be done. And done is a good place
Speaker 1: to be. This episode is first airing in late October.
Speaker 1: The upcoming month of November will bring many things, but
Speaker 1: one of them is what people call National Novel Writing Month.
Speaker 1: During this challenge, thousands of people will attempt to write
Speaker 1: a fifty thousand word novel during the thirty days of November.
Speaker 1: Some time listeners know that I am a big fan
Speaker 1: of this concept. One of the things that trips writers
Speaker 1: up when they attempt to write that novel that they
Speaker 1: have been thinking about for years is that they want
Speaker 1: to produce good writing, and most first drafts are terrible.
Speaker 1: Good writing comes from thoughtful editing. The good news here
Speaker 1: is that it is much easier to turn something into
Speaker 1: something better than to turn nothing into something. A challenge
Speaker 1: like National Novel Writing Month forces you to write quickly
Speaker 1: without second guessing yourself, you get out of your own head,
Speaker 1: write a story, and then once it exists, you can
Speaker 1: turn it into something that you would actually like to read. Now,
Speaker 1: maybe you don't want to write a novel, but maybe
Speaker 1: there is some other big project in your life that
Speaker 1: you'd like to undertake. Maybe you have started this project
Speaker 1: several times, You've got bits and pieces of it here
Speaker 1: and there. It could be many things, like writing a
Speaker 1: new curriculum for your school or for the training program
Speaker 1: you run at work. It might be revamping your employee
Speaker 1: evaluation system or creating a class for your house of worship.
Speaker 1: Maybe you want to finish the application for a grant
Speaker 1: or clean out your basement. I am sure there is
Speaker 1: something you have been telling yourself for a long time
Speaker 1: that you really should do. So here's an idea. Why
Speaker 1: not adopt the spirit of National Novel Writing Month and
Speaker 1: commit to finishing your project in thirty days. You've got
Speaker 1: a few days now to map out a plan before
Speaker 1: the month starts. There are thirty days in November. If
Speaker 1: you skip Sundays and Thanksgiving, you're looking at more like
Speaker 1: twenty five days. What would you need to do on
Speaker 1: each of those twenty five to thirty days in order
Speaker 1: to get to done. If you are creating a four
Speaker 1: week course, let's say maybe you spend five days on
Speaker 1: each module, and then five days making it more coherent.
Speaker 1: Maybe you count that you've got twenty five boxes in
Speaker 1: the basement and you look at one each day and
Speaker 1: spend the last five days sweeping things out or vacuuming,
Speaker 1: or maybe repainting the walls. But whatever it is, break
Speaker 1: your project down into twenty five to thirty chunks, just
Speaker 1: like National Novel Writing Month participants do. They pledge to
Speaker 1: write sixteen hundred and sixty seven to two thousand words
Speaker 1: a day. I know this takes about two hours for me,
Speaker 1: but maybe it takes some other amount of time for
Speaker 1: other people. Whatever your intermediate steps, figure out how much
Speaker 1: time they'll take, and then figure out when in your
Speaker 1: schedule you can block in this time, figure out back
Speaker 1: up slots for the first slots get taken away from you.
Speaker 1: But then picture yourself on December first, with a complete
Speaker 1: version of your project. That's pretty motivating. Thirty days is
Speaker 1: enough time to do a lot, but it is a
Speaker 1: short enough time that we can see the finish line.
Speaker 1: Really picture yourself enjoying your accomplishment and then get started,
Speaker 1: keep going. That's all there is to it. In thirty days,
Speaker 1: you just might be done with something big, or if
Speaker 1: you don't start, you won't be. But thirty days are
Speaker 1: going to pass no matter what you do, Won't It
Speaker 1: be nice to be on the other side feeling proud
Speaker 1: of what you've done. In the meantime, This is Laura.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening, and here's to making the moss of
Speaker 1: our time. Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast. If you've
Speaker 1: got questions, ideas, or feedback, you can reach me at
Speaker 1: Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast is a
Speaker 1: production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts from iHeartMedia, please visit
Speaker 1: the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to
Speaker 1: your favorite shows.