Consistency and lessons from the White Rabbit. (For Writers)
“Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be too late!” - The White Rabbit (Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll).
We’ve all felt like the White Rabbit before. Especially when it comes to writing. You spend all week darting from one activity to the next. Then when the weekend finally comes, and you are ready to write – so ready, you’ve got five hours straight to spend jotting down your ideas! — you sit down…and barely get out a sentence. Then you start panicking and the White Rabbit races by again.
I have to get this done! I’m never going to finish this! I’m going to be so late!
This feeling is not a fun one to have, but never fear! This can be fixed! With something called… consistency.
Does that word send shivers of dread shooting up your spine? Are you thinking about slaving away at your computer at five o’clock in the morning to make sure you write something? Well, we’re about to wipe that dread away and replace it with some excitement.
If the idea of writing every day and making progress on all those amazing projects in your head and in your notes sounds great to you then how do you do it? Finding the time to be consistent is sometimes the hardest task, but when you are consistent then you will find that when you sit down to write, even if you don’t know what to do, you will be able to write. Cramming for time to get everything done ends now! So let’s begin.
How do you work consistency into your schedule? School, chores, work, cooking food, making plans, hanging out with friends and family— there’s no time! Or is there? Somewhere in your schedule is ten minutes of uninterrupted time. Maybe that’s right before breakfast, maybe that’s right after school, maybe you don’t have to play that video game for two hours. Take a moment and think of your week, write down your schedule, and find that time to block out!
Now you have your time…but other people don’t seem to understand that. Your friends are still wanting you to play, your siblings still expect you to take them out on a hike! So what should you do? Make sure you’re communicating! Even something as simple as “hey, for ten minutes I’m going to be writing” can make a world of difference. If your family knows that you're going to be ready to go when those ten minutes are up, then they’ll be more willing to let you disappear into your room. Telling your friends that in ten minutes you can play all the games they want can keep you on track and help you get everything done! All this time you gather is going to be put to good use, and you will find after a few weeks your progress will start booming!
Find your minutes and guard them! Learning to make a habit of writing consistently can be challenging. So start small,start with ten minutes and build up if you’re feeling good about it. Don’t beat yourself up when you don’t succeed every day, because every day is a new day and you have a new chance to try!
So find your time, communicate about it, and guard it. Write even when you don’t feel like it, and write, most importantly, when you think you can’t. Because you can! Consistency in your writing will show you progress over time. That brings us to our last part, a challenge, don’t give up! It will be worth every slow second that drags by when you’re nailing down thousands of words every hour in the future.
Ready to start that consistency? Begin right now! Find your ten minutes and start the timer. I’m cheering you on!
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Want to learn more about balancing time? Check out this Green Writer Podcast episode hosted by S.D. Smith and Brett Harris. Click to find out more about this Spotify episode!
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With Faith, Hope, Love, and Feathers,
Inertia.
