Habit, flow, and comic relief in our new normal

What a week it's been...or has it been two? Giving the normal grant development tips without acknowledging our context seems silly. So, I'll start with a little about what's happening in my household. Most days, I am a short-order chef in my house for the breakfast rush. My duties have now expanded into the lunch and dinner rush and also include 5 million snacks a day.

In case you do not have a clear picture of what I mean. I have two elementary-school-age kids. My shift starts with me needing to take their orders. My customers are very distracted, so I have to ask them what they'd like to have no less than five times each. I have to move in front of their entertainment to finally get their order. They get mad when I do that, so then they angrily bark their orders at me. "I want a bagel with butter!" Generally, my clientele have very specific tastes and demand that their meal or glass of milk be in a specific container. Woe to me if I do not anticipate these preferences or intuit them when taking orders. Once I have the orders up, my work is not finished. My customers frequently spill their beverage directly on the floor - particularly when they're dining over the carpet. They rarely notice their mess, nor use the napkin I have so neatly placed beside them. Once I've collected their dishes and cleaned up the kitchen, they come and find me to place a follow-up order that inevitably consists of me getting out everything I just cleaned up and put away.

I'll save my homeschool teaching experience for another day, but suffice it to say that the distraction I had before we were all on lockdown does not compare to what I face today. My point is, aside from hopefully making you smile, to get any writing done, we need to develop new routines, establish new habits, and recreate our flow. The good news is that even though the situation is different, the same techniques still work, so here they are:

Touch your work every day: Even when you don't feel like it, find a way to spend even 5-10 minutes on that latest grant proposal. If you're not ready to write, then spend a little time reviewing the program announcement and/or sketching some ideas for your proposal.

Leave bread crumbs: Don't write until you run into a barrier, cause if you stop then, it'll be that much harder to get yourself to come back to it. Instead, leave notes about what you're going to do next, and particularly things you're excited to continue to work on. This will make it easier to pick it up again.

Identify when you're at your best: If you don't know whether you focus best in the morning or are a night owl, it's time to figure that out. If however, you know when you focus best, but that's not going to work well with your short-order chef responsibilities, time to reassess. When is the time you can really concentrate?

Identify start and stop times for your work: Once you've figured out your most productive times, set a start time for your brain-heavy work at that time, and beyond that decide when you're going to stop, making sure you use the bread crumb idea. This allows you to keep the momentum you need. Remember grant-development is a marathon, so do what you need to do to make sure you can get through the whole race. As a side note, slowing to a walk at any point or slowing your productivity is ok and probably necessary in our new normal!

Switch it up: As before, when you hit a barrier like a writing/thinking block, don't try to power through it, instead try something else. Go for a walk, exercise, or talk it out with a colleague over zoom. This change in activities may help you figure out creative ways to overcome the block.

More important than all of these tips, take care of yourself. Take the breaks that you need, but realize that getting back to some of the old habits might help you adjust. Stay healthy and hopeful, all.

Resources:
How to Overcome Writer's Block - Goins, Writer
What Great Writers Do About Writer's Block - Writing Routines