I asked Austin Kleon about productivity

On May 7, 2019…

I went to hear prolific writer and artist, Austin Kleon, give a talk at the library.

Kleon is a New York Times best-selling author. That night he was on tour, promoting his book, Keep Going. It’s his third in a trilogy about creativity.

I was in the 3rd or 4th row. There were probably a hundred people behind me — maybe more — packing this oddly shaped room in the basement of a Chicago Public Library.

“Any questions?” he said.

I raised my hand.

He looked at me and nodded.

JOIN THOUSANDS OF SUBSCRIBERS

“Do you ever feel like no matter how much work you do, you can or should be doing more?” I said.

“Mmmm,” he said. And then he sipped some water.

I pressed the red button in the voice memos app on my phone because I wanted to get this shit right.

“Yeah, always,” he said. “If you get into that productivity trap, there’s always going to be more work to do, you know? 

“Like, you can always make more. I think that’s why I’m a time-based worker. I try to go at my work like a banker. I just have hours. I show up to the office and whatever gets done gets done. 

“And I’ve always been a time-based worker. You know, like, ‘did I sit here for 3 hours and try.’ I don’t have a word count when I sit down to write. It’s all about sitting down and trying to make something happen in that time period — and letting those hours stack up.

“So that’s sort of how I get over it.”

Sound advice for copywriters.

Sound advice for all professionals doing creative work, really.

So if you haven’t already, try time-based writing for a day. It may work for you.

P.S.

Thanks for calling on me, Austin.

P.P.S.

Austin Kleon read this article and turned it into a piece for his own blog:

New on the blog: Working with time https://t.co/GxRvpRDB0Q pic.twitter.com/YhassPts0f

— Austin Kleon (@austinkleon) May 15, 2019

Thanks again, Austin.

---

LEARN TO PERSUADE

WRITE BETTER.
MARKET BETTER.
SELL MORE.

---

COMMENT BELOW

Judge not lest ye be judged.