An iPad sketch of the Twitter bird

Today's post is inspired by a tweet from @Cloudscope1, who wrote, "What are your top three tips for getting more articles done in a day? Currently I'm doing about 2." Without further ado, my suggestions:

  1. Set a goal for each post and write to achieve that goal. What's the takeaway you want your readers to get after finishing your article? Start with the point of your article -- even if it ends up being the last sentence -- and continue building from that foundation. This strategy helps focus your thoughts and cut down on your self-editing.
  2. Gamify your work periods. I swear by artificially constricting work periods and using strong incentives to reward efficient behavior. Level up your writing periods by setting a challenging goal -- an old favorite of mine is "two articles before my second cup of coffee" -- and an attractive reward for achieving it. This method alone has doubled, maybe even tripled, my productivity. (Here are some other ideas on how to leverage Parkinson's Law if you're feeling especially ambitious.)
  3. Recognize your strengths and weaknesses. I rock at writing in the morning and late at night, so that's when I do the bulk of my blogging. Conversely, I have trouble thinking analytically in the middle of the day, so I use that time to exercise, run errands or catch up on my reading. Try tracking your energy levels during a workday and take note of when you're feeling especially creative and prone to efficient writing. Then dedicate those blocks of time to blogging.

Complement these strategies by adapting some of these habits of high-performance writers to really crank things up.

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