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alexandraerinI've always had a problem finishing a story before it's due to be posted, or finishing stories without some kind of deadline. It's like trying to run when your feet can't touch the ground... without something to struggle against, there's no traction.
Related to this, for as long as I've been self-employed I've tried to find ways to create a feeling of being "on the clock" during my work day. This helps the work-life balance by putting a firm line between when I'm working and when I'm "home", but it also helps the work aspect. When I worked for other people, I had the best thing that is called a work ethic you ever saw. I no longer think the phrase "work ethic" is accurate, because my ethics about work didn't change when I started working for myself. Only my situation did, and I floundered.
I've tried various things, like announcing on Twitter when I'm going on and off the clock, or making blog posts here at the start and end of my day. I've even considered going so far as making a mock timeclock to punch in at, just because nothing really worked for long. There was nothing holding me accountable.
So this is where Habit RPG is transforming my work day, to the point that I'm considering changing my settings so that my "day" on it begins and ends at the scheduled close of business day instead of in the middle of the night. I don't know for sure about that. It would be nice if I could set due times for individual items, though. I could just make a second account for work stuff, but it seems like making things complicated would be a mistake.
I open Habit RPG every day because I want to, because I want the feedback and the feeling that I'm achieving something by drinking water or cleaning up after myself. If I have two accounts going, I can get that positive reinforcement from checking just one of them.
Anyway, the thing is that putting my workday stuff into Habit RPG puts me back on the clock, and I think it might solve me problem with finishing stories before they're due. Or rather, with finishing them before they need to be posted... because I can make them due in the game, and the game will reward me for finishing them and penalize me for missing them.
So this is what I'm going to be trying next week: making the chapters due in the game a day before they're due to be posted. That's the next step in my plan to evolve the schedule. Even with the prod of Habit RPG I expect it to take a while, but the good thing about this step is that it won't impact the site if I stumble.
Related to this, for as long as I've been self-employed I've tried to find ways to create a feeling of being "on the clock" during my work day. This helps the work-life balance by putting a firm line between when I'm working and when I'm "home", but it also helps the work aspect. When I worked for other people, I had the best thing that is called a work ethic you ever saw. I no longer think the phrase "work ethic" is accurate, because my ethics about work didn't change when I started working for myself. Only my situation did, and I floundered.
I've tried various things, like announcing on Twitter when I'm going on and off the clock, or making blog posts here at the start and end of my day. I've even considered going so far as making a mock timeclock to punch in at, just because nothing really worked for long. There was nothing holding me accountable.
So this is where Habit RPG is transforming my work day, to the point that I'm considering changing my settings so that my "day" on it begins and ends at the scheduled close of business day instead of in the middle of the night. I don't know for sure about that. It would be nice if I could set due times for individual items, though. I could just make a second account for work stuff, but it seems like making things complicated would be a mistake.
I open Habit RPG every day because I want to, because I want the feedback and the feeling that I'm achieving something by drinking water or cleaning up after myself. If I have two accounts going, I can get that positive reinforcement from checking just one of them.
Anyway, the thing is that putting my workday stuff into Habit RPG puts me back on the clock, and I think it might solve me problem with finishing stories before they're due. Or rather, with finishing them before they need to be posted... because I can make them due in the game, and the game will reward me for finishing them and penalize me for missing them.
So this is what I'm going to be trying next week: making the chapters due in the game a day before they're due to be posted. That's the next step in my plan to evolve the schedule. Even with the prod of Habit RPG I expect it to take a while, but the good thing about this step is that it won't impact the site if I stumble.