By W. Terry Whalin @terrywhalin

I’m always experimenting and eager to learn any new habit which will increase my productivity. Last month I gave some ideas about your email and in this article, I want to suggest some ideas for other areas which will help you.

First, let’s look at your telephone. When concentrating on a writing task, you don’t have to reach for the phone when it rings. Let it go to voicemail. Alex Mandossian, the Internet marketing entrepreneur sets specific hours from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday as his open call times for a new prospect or existing clients to phone him. There is no rule you have to be available 24 hours a day. Take control of your time on the telephone.

Another time waster is following the news continually throughout the day. Make a decision to limit this information and instead spend the time on your writing. It may take some concerted effort on your part to wean yourself from constantly monitoring an event but focus on the benefits and additional writing time you will gain from it.

How about the one-eyed monster or television as another time waster? As with the news situation, you may have to wean yourself from it but focus on the valuable writing time you will gain from such an effort.

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Then there are family interruptions. Again, take control of this situation in your life. Hang a sign on the door or create a signal that you are occupied and unavailable unless something unusual occurs such as the building is burning. Make sure, however, you’re available to family members at other times but not during the time you have set aside for your writing life.

Also, what about volunteer obligations and free writing opportunities? Do these obligations fit into your long- or short-term writing plans, or are they completely separate from your goals in this area? If the latter, then look for ways to disengage from these activities so you can focus on your writing goals.

In addition, it is a challenge for anyone to spend long periods of time at their computer writing. Perhaps it’s easier for you to write in short bursts of energy and consistently spend 50 minutes of concentrated effort on your writing. After the completion of this stint, you stand up, stretch, and take a break, and then return to your chair to work another 50 minute session. It’s been said that what your butt can’t endure, your mind can’t absorb. You will increase your productivity if you focus on shorter periods of time and write intensely during those shorter time periods. To focus on 50 minutes, use a countdown timer as a tool to put psychic pressure on you to get done faster and better. You can get a free countdown timer at: https://timeleft.info/and use it to increase your productivity.

Finally, valuable practice is to write down your plans for the next day before you leave your writing. Then throughout the night and before you return to your writing, you will have a definite plan about what you will write next. Some writers intentionally leave an incomplete sentence in their manuscript. This sentence allows them to return to the computer, open the file, and instantly begin typing on their document. Other writers will retype the last paragraph of their manuscript just to get their fingers moving.

A critical part of our lives as writers is to continually be learning, experimenting then taking action and building habits which will increase our productivity. Which ideas are you going to try and incorporate into your writing?

W. Terry Whalin, a writer and acquisitions editor lives in California. A former magazine editor and former literary agent, Terry is an acquisitions editor at Morgan James Publishing. He has written more than 60 nonfiction books including Jumpstart Your Publishing Dreams and Billy Graham. Get Terry’s newest book, 10 Publishing Myths for only $10, free shipping and bonuses worth over $200. To help writers catch the attention of editors and agents, Terry wrote his bestselling Book Proposals That $ell, 21 Secrets To Speed Your Success. Check out his free Ebook, Platform Building Ideas for Every Author. His website is located at: www.terrywhalin.com