Commencement
You cannot beat an early start. Starting early
furnishes several
advantages.
Here they are. (i) Generally, it gives you the maximum time to deal with any
difficulties. For example
the task is harder than you thought and needs more
time than you planned, the books that you need to look at are not easily
available, or something unforeseen happens that takes time that you would
otherwise have spent on the task. This generates
a basic rule about an early
start – the earlier you start something the better you can handle difficulties and
interruptions, and the less stress these are likely to cause you. (ii) It gives you a
chance to digest and absorb new ideas, which tend to build up in sedimentary
layers, so time is now your friend.
It furnishes maximum time for ideas to
generate and regenerate. (iii) If you start writing a text too long after the ideas
have started to generate, you risk forgetting a lot of the detail and insights that
should be utilised in the text. Then “the sheer task of getting it all back into
one’s head again becomes an ordeal in itself”.
344
(iv) It alleviates some of the
stress hanging over you concerning completion of a task. Having made an
early start, you can now see the work being finished on time.
Sessions
Spread time spent on a task of substantial size over several sessions, rather
than working for one long session. Indeed the more times or sessions, the
better. In practice this means that it is best to rotate your work on each topic,
subject and project, rather than doing any one of them intensively for a long
period.
By spreading your work over several sessions, even over many sessions, you
make maximum use of the capacity of your subconscious mind to process
ideas. Moreover, when you come to the material after a break you will be fresh
and enthused. Generally the longer that we work at something, the less
enthusiastic we become and the more that our concentration wanes. In the
language of economics, as time passes on a task there is diminishing marginal
enthusiasm.
Optimum Length
Allocate the optimum length of time for each session of writing. To do this it is
necessary to balance two requirements, which may conflict. (i) Do not work
too long without proper rests. Take about 10 minutes each hour and one hour
every three hours. (ii) Allocate time for a session so that you reach a natural
finishing point, otherwise you have to pick up the threads again. So, spend
sufficient time to leave at the end of something and not in the middle of it.
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344
Elms in Sheard (2003) p 88
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