If you have a full-time writing job and want to write a book, you may wonder how you will accomplish both. You likely spend most of your time and energy on paid work. How do you complete a book AND maintain quality work for clients at the same time?
I know this challenge well. I am a content writer and recently completed a 340-page book. Doing both was tough – at first. I nearly burned out halfway through. Thankfully, some hacks helped me maximize my productivity and maintain energy and focus. Best of all, the same hacks improved my professional writing. I achieved a 100% satisfaction rating and a top-rated writer badge on Upwork, which led to higher income.
These tips will help you, too.
Try Time Blocking
Many successful people have used time blocking, including Elon Musk, Jack Dorsey (of Twitter fame), Steve Jobs, and Benjamin Franklin. By designating times for your work initiatives, you reduce mind clutter so that you can focus more intently on each task, completing it faster. You also notice initiatives that took too long and require refining.
Maintain Firm Work Hours
Take a close look at your daily routine, establish your work hours, and stick to them. Setting strict work times helped me prioritize tasks and ensure I had time and energy for my book.
Set Clear Priorities
Time is not finite. Use it wisely. Prioritize goals and tasks that are truly important. Delegate others where you can. Also, break complex or stressful tasks into smaller chunks to feel positive momentum.
For a deeper look at solutions like these, check out:
Use Pomodoros
More than two million people use the Pomodoro technique. It consists of creating focused work sessions on a single task. It is an ideal addition to time blocking.
Work for 25 minutes and break for five minutes. On each fourth block, take a more extended break of 15 to 30 minutes. Since each work session is 25 minutes or less, you won’t feel fatigued.
Use each break to step away completely. Use the time to stretch, meditate, use the bathroom, drink water, check emails, or complete household chores.
Learn to Say No
The temptation of more income is real. Still, you have a book to write. Prioritize higher-paid work and delegate what you can of the lower paid material.
Maintain a Healthy Body and Mind
Healthy nutrition and exercise boost productivity. Ditch fast food, sugary snacks, and microwaved meals for healthy meals you buy or cook at home. I found batch cooking saves me money and time.
Humans need exercise, and it helps with work, too. Staying mobile prevents injuries and aches and pains that come from long hours at a desk. Try 20-minute walks around the block or on walking pads, or do gym or yoga exercises.
Maintain a healthy mind with meditation, a proven to reduce stress reducer.
Write Your Book Outside of Work Hours
Separating job and book writing allows for more concentrated work. Choose the best time for you. Authors Salman Rushdie, Virginia Woolfe, Kurt Vonnegut, and Ernest Hemmingway found morning beneficial, while Robert Frost, Alan Ginsberg, Pablo Neruda, Charles Dickens, and Sylvia Plath preferred night. For me, writing a non-fiction book at night brought a welcome distraction after a stressful workday.
If you write non-fiction related to your work, try doing it at night to remember your day’s insights.
You Can Do It
These tips did wonders for me. They can do the same for you. You may need to fine-tune them to work best for you, but they are a terrific starting point.
Bio: Ross Robinson runs rosstopia.com, https://www.rosstopia.com/, a website focused on home office design and productivity. 
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