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Dear Friends,
On a recent webinar on Author Efficiency and Productivity with Pages & Platform's founder, Sue Campbell, I learned that we each have a "system" for reaching our goals. Gretchen Rubin who developed the system uses four tags to describe how we respond to expectations, those outer expectations (like from a boss) or inner expectations (like personally wanting to get more exercise). The four tendencies are:
Upholder: "I do what others expect of me and what I expect from myself."
Questioner: "I do what I think is best, according to my judgment. If it doesn't make sense, I won't do it."
Obliger: "I do what I have to do. I don't want to let others down, but I may let myself down."
Rebel: "I do what I want, in my own way. If you try to make me do something—even if I try to make myself do something—I'm less likely to do it."
What mattered to me about this model was that, depending on which our tendencies are, we can organize our days accordingly. And there are productivity systems out there that are built for each.
Rebels place high value on self-determination and living up to our own identity and values. We can frustrate others since we don't like to be asked to do things we aren't inherently interested in doing ourselves. In that way rebels can come across as "adolescent" or as "immature." They like independent work, make great consultants, and prefer spontaneous commitments. In most long-term relationships, the Rebel's partner is an Obliger though in neither of my marriages has this been true.
For years I had to have a schedule and hold to it and for years I felt like rebelling against it. I'd line up my planner by each hour and then do whatever I wanted to do through the day, frequently doing everything on the list. Sometimes I'd consider myself lazy, unproductive, or, well, "rebellious". But now I know that this tendency just explains why we act and don't act. It doesn't judge our character.
What resonated for me from Rubin's research is:
rebels want to act with a sense of choice and freedom
we often prefer being spontaneous more than "stuck" with a schedule
we need to focus on why we're trying to reach a goal, rather than the goal itself
And what Sue Campbell reminded me is that after I've invested hundreds of dollars in planning systems that hardly ever worked, I can use one that has always worked well for me ever since I retired and built my third career as an author.
Essentially what it involves is:
Having a detailed list of every "project" that either I or others want/need me to do. All in one place. I prefer doing this in analog fashion but I'm intrigued to try out an electronic option of the many available.
Once that list is in place, I star the priorities for that day or week. This will include both things I inherently want to do (be outside a big chunk of every day) with things that are required of me (do the food shopping, or respond to a writing deadline).
Early Monday morning, usually, I pick the items I'll focus on for this week and allocate time to them. Over the years I've gotten much better at allocating time to these things — 1/4 hr for every email, phone call, social scheduling, social media post, etc.; 1+ hrs for anything requiring brain power, creativity or muscle power; 1/2 hr for coordination or real communication with a friend, kid, or Michael. On average, and in the aggregate, I've been pretty right on most days.
Only then do I plug these things into my e-calendar. And even then, if I'm not in the "mood" for a deep dive into creating a new character, I might trade that for a walk outside, returning to the writing once refreshed.
Amazingly, by the end of the week at least 90% of the things are done.
I think we can train ourselves toward a tendency that isn't our natural. I couldn't have survived in the corporate world solely as a rebel. I trained myself to be an Obliger through my career — I never missed a client deadline; I came prepared to every meeting. But I often let myself down in the process (sacrificing exercise, sleep, etc, to get those external expectations met). Thankfully, retirement allows me to return to my natural self.
My "perfect day" continues to be a) have nothing on my list or b) take the things I have on my list and do them in any order I choose, at the time.
And by the way, my go-to source for author marketing, author mindset and productivity, and the seven basic story types is Pages & Platforms.
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From My Stack
Paul Auster
Baumgartner
A birthday gift from my dear friend Karen Kauffman in Portland, this book is a treasure and a repudiation of all those writing teachers who say scene is the only way to write (by the way I agree with them mostly, but not when in the hands of a master).
With single sentences that sometimes fill an entire page and much of the story in the protagonist's head, I just sunk into Auster's most recent book with full pleasure.
Baumgartner, in his low seventies like me, has been single for nine years since the tragic drowning of his beloved wife. He's holed up in his study trying to write about Kierkegaard's pseudonyms and smells something burning in the kitchen. Okay, I've been there...the fire leads to an accident which leads to all manner of cogitations and remembrances of the life he once had with his wife and their successful careers. He's confounded by FedEx drivers and electronics but brilliant about everything else.
I picked this up during the final week of one of my oldest and best friend's life and somehow it was perfect. Reminding me of the frailty of our lives and the tenacity in them. Their great highs and great lows. Which split seconds from fifty years ago we remember like it was today and which whole years or decades we barely think of. I loved his device of bringing into the text little stories or poem his deceased wife wrote, giving us her voice along with his.
This is a book I want to re-read every year. And now that I know I'm a "Rebel" I'll put it on my list and maybe get to it every other year!
Truly fine, short book to read.
Deborah Levy
August Blue
I think it was the NYT that had a list of best books to capture what it was like to live through the Pandemic. I liked the list and had read about half of them including Michael Cunningham's wonderful Day which I profiled here.
But I hadn't read anything by Deborah Levy before when I saw this one on that list. I loved it. I found her style like that of Rachel Cusk who, like Paul Auster, can "get away" with lots of narration and exposition.
The protagonist, a concert pianist, is in Greece when she sees a woman who she describes as her "double," buying a set of wooden horses; from there on she keeps seeing her double again—in Greece, Paris, and London. It's a portrait of "melancholy and metamorphosis" that I found truly compelling.
Disgraced by her last public musical performance, the protagonist turns to teaching students instead of performing. She is tied exquisitely to her own great teacher of the past. She follows her instincts in recovering from losses and attempts to "revise our oldest stories" to make herself new.
Another short read, exquisitely built, with much white space and no quotation marks.
Whatever your tendencies, here's to enjoying every minute of this summer on your own, with family and friends, outside or inside, and I'll be in touch again soon.
With love,
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