Guys today’s guest post is from the lovely Emily Elgar, author of If You Knew Her. Below Emily explains all about her mantra ‘manage my energy not my time.’ in the below post’How I’m Learning to Manage My Energy for Writing and My Time’. Do you have any good mantras that help you?
Emily’s words:
Before I started writing, I had jobs with pretty ‘normal’ hours. I’d be in work at 9.30am and leave at 5.30pm there’d be a bit of over time or a few late nights here and there, but that time would carefully be recorded and taken in lieu. It made for a relatively steady time. It also complimented the protestant work ethic – a good days grind being seven or so hours sitting at a desk – largely drummed into me at school.
At first, writing didn’t feel like work. My jaw didn’t ache from gritting my teeth, there was no smoke puffing out of my ears. I was so overjoyed that writing was now my work I couldn’t understand where the ‘tortured artist’ sterotype came from. Then after a few months, like any relationship, the honeymoon period started to fade. Writing started leaving socks on the floor and stopped laughing at my jokes. I started to become really frustrated sitting at my computer for hours trying to squeeze unsatisfactory words out of my head and onto the page. I thought about writers like Murakami and Archer with their famous routines. I started waking up at 3am desperate to write and working furiously before crashing into bed at 7am until midday – on a Tuesday. I didn’t know myself. I found I got more planning done on an hours walk then I did after 7 hours at my desk. I was finding new untethered, ways of working. I realised I wanted to work at the most unsociable times – Saturday nights – but come Monday morning I’d find it impossible to concentrate. I talked to a wise friend about it. She said, ‘Sounds like you need to manage your energy and not your time’ and a light bulb pinged in my mind. That was exactly it. Creativity for me happens best when it’s good and ready, like an emotion, I can’t will it into being. Of course, it requires effort and concentration but if I give it my best shot and it’s simply not happening, I now do some other work or find a hill to climb. By doing something other than trying to write, I find I’m more open, more prepared for ‘the feeling’ and I have the energy to respond when it strikes. Most importantly, for me, it keeps the creative element of writing feeling light, playful. I’m still a work in process, but I’m eternally grateful to my friend for my new mantra ‘manage your energy, not your time.’
What do you think of ‘How I’m Learning to Manage My Energy for Writing and My Time’ by Emily Elgar? Would you have any other recommendation?
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