Do you always feel like there are not enough hours in the week to make a dent in your writing projects? This is called time anxiety.
Unlike productivity shame, where you feel like you haven’t done enough, time anxiety makes you feel you never have enough time to reach your goals. For a writer, this could feel like never accomplishing your dreams of becoming a successful blogger or author.
For most writers, especially those who have full-time jobs where they can only find time to write early in the morning or late at night, it’s easy to feel a sense of time anxiety. After all, you only have a limited amount of time to get anything done.
But you can overcome time anxiety when writing.
This post will share 10 tips on how you can manage your writing time (see also ‘What Should be Included in Your First Draft? 9 Easy Writing Tips‘) to overcome time anxiety.
Disclosure: This page contains affiliate links, which means I receive a small commission, at no extra cost to you, if you make a purchase using the links.
Most of us spend too much time on what is urgent and not enough time on what is important.
Understanding How Time Anxiety Affects Your Writing
- Daily: When time anxiety invades your daily writing routine, you may feel stressed because there is not enough time to finish writing one or more content pieces.
- Future: If time anxiety from your daily writing routine persists, you may feel your actions will affect your future writing projects. For example, if you don’t finish writing one chapter each day for seven days, you won’t be able to move forward in writing the next seven chapters of your book.
- Existential: This form of anxiety makes you feel as if you only have a small amount of time to live your dream life. An example would be feeling your life will be incomplete if you don’t finish writing your first book before turning 30.
Apply the Basics When Dealing with Time Anxiety
When looking for solutions on how to overcome time anxiety when writing, we must first apply the basics, which include:
1. Adopt a flexible writing schedule
While I recommend having a set writing schedule, I also know that life happens — children get sick, cars breakdown, etc. Determine more than one time during the day when you can write. If you miss your morning writing routine, can you write for 30 minutes at lunch?
2 Build habits that work with a changing schedule
Use regular habits as triggers to help your writing stay on track. For example, if you want to write every morning, pair your writing session with your first cup of coffee/tea/water of the day.
3. Remove distractions
If your writing is crunched for time, don’t let unnecessary notifications distract you. Use an app like RescueTime to block distractions, like the Instagram notifications that let you know who’s online.
4. Be realistic about how much time is needed
It’s easy to think we can get a task done in a short amount of time. If you can’t write a blog post in less than 3 hours, don’t schedule 30 minutes to complete it. Give yourself enough time to give your writing the attention it deserves.
5. Prioritize important work
For days when your writing session is limited to a short amount of time, work on the most important tasks. If you’re on a deadline to turn in a guest blog post by the end of the week, don’t spend time brainstorming your next book (see also ‘How To Brainstorm A Story‘). Prioritize your most important writing tasks first.
Additional Tips Beyond the Basics
6. Track your time
How many times have you convinced yourself you could fit one more thing into your day before bed? We’re all guilty of thinking we have more time than we really do. But the truth is:
- There are only 24 hours in a single day
- You can’t stop or slow time down
- Your writing time cannot exists outside your schedule
Therefore, it’s important to track your time. Use a time tracking sheet to record everything you want and need to get done each day. This helps you understand where you can find time to write.
7. Don’t overestimate the time you have to write
Once you figure out where everything fits your schedule, don’t overestimate how much time you have to write. For example, if you get home from work at 5 p.m. and you need to cook dinner, do laundry, walk to the park with your children, get your children ready for bed, and don’t plan to edit your 50,000-word book before bedtime. Be realistic about how much time you have and what you want to accomplish.
8. Become a ‘Satisficer’ instead of a ‘Maximizer
Psychologists believe there are two types of decision-makers — satisficers and maximizers.
The satisficer makes decisions based on their current situation. The maximizer tries to make a choice that will give them the maximum benefit in the future. So the writer who is a satisficer may use their 20-minute waiting time in the carpool line to accomplish one writing task for the day. A maximizer may use the 20 minutes in the carpool line and pull an all-nighter to finish 10 writing goals.
To reduce stress, become a satisficer. This will help you avoid burnout while continuing to your writing goals forward.
9. Determine what success looks like
For each of your writing sessions, determine what success looks like before you start writing. When writing my second book, Tine to Reset, there were days when I didn’t feel like writing. Rather than blowing off my writing time, I would set a small goal like write at least one hour or one page. Once I accomplished my small goal, I felt I had a successful writing session.
10. Don’t forget self-care
Once you get your writing time under control, don’t forget to take care of yourself. Get some rest. Setting the alarm early in the morning to meet your deadlines, pulling all-nighters to get things done, struggling with time management can wear you down. With the right amount of sleep, you will feel energized throughout the day. Also, make sure you eat right and make time for exercise.
In summary
Feeling time anxiety is common. But it doesn’t have to control your writing life. You can overcome time anxiety by understanding how anxiety affects your behavior as a writer. Apply basic strategies in how you manage your writing time. Finally, you can manage your relationship with time by coming to grips with how much time you have and what you want to accomplish. In the end, it’s up to you to decide how to move forward. You can overcome anxiety to go on to produce your best work.
