Success in 90-Minute Increments

I use it as well. There’s a book called The Off Switch that suggests a related approach – get focused on tasks that have a minimum of 20-30 minutes each and don’t allow yourself to be interrupted – by email, texts, or your own desire to wander into the weeds. That said, I find that at times I can get into flow and not notice that three or four hours have passed… but when they do, I need to take a serious break.

I have recently subscribed to your blog (it’s fantastic!), so this is the first time I am hearing about the 90 minute work periods.

I am really excited to try it, because I’m a homeschooling mom of 4 little ones, and just haven’t been able to write during the day with 5 or 10 minutes here and there to do it.

However, knowing that all I need at a time is 90 minutes, I can set things up to accomplish that, if I time it right with baby naps, and reading time etc. for the older children.

Plus with one more 90 minute sprint in the evening, I believe I could be far more productive in my writing than I have been.

Thank you so much for this great idea!

This approach sounds really interesting. A couple of questions. What if you’re really into a scene of a novel when the 90 minutes are up and you don’t want to break the flow? Also, how long a break should you ideally take? My most productive writing time is between 11am & 5pm with a half hour break in that time for a late lunch. Before 11 I get essential household chores done (don’t check under the beds!) and after 5 I fit in exercise classes and feeding my longsuffering husband. If I took long breaks during my 6 hour optimum work time, I’d feel like I was missing out.

I probably should read Tony Schwartz’s book to get the answers but thought I’d flag these queries up.

Great idea–I’ll have to give this a try. I can see where the interval segments would keep the energy up. Thanks for sharing– good to read the responses too.

I’ve done this in the past for my non-fiction writing and it works well. During NaNoWriMo I’ve been writing in 45 minute stretches. I have a hard time being productive in the shorter, 20 or 30-minute stretches. I’m going to try the longer, 90-minute session for fiction this morning and see how it goes.

I’ve always used an interval writing schedule, not because I’m so bright, but because that’s what I could fit into my daily schedule. It does work for me!

I found early on in my writing career that the most detrimental thing I can do to my brain and body is to write until I’m exhausted. There must be a multitude of glorious half-finished books out there that were waylaid by burnout!

This style of work fits the intensity I like to write with. Bursts. That’s usually how I get it done. Some more intense than others.
~ Wendy

I happened upon this approach last year quite by accident. Non-writing responsibilities carved up my day, so I was left with two or three 60-90 minute chunks. I began to assign certain goals to achieve during those times. I have to admit that the result was greater productivity and more focused writing. Good to know that the work/productivity model wasn’t a fluke.

Oh how I smiled when I read this. It’s very true. I find that I write better early in the morning. And recently I’ve been trying to push my start time earlier and earlier. But like you, I found that I was finishing sooner.

So I’ve also been splitting my day into sessions. The trouble I find is that each session is less productive than the last. I think I need the dawn chorus to be sung from 7 a.m. till 6 p.m.

Yes, I’ve started blaming birdlife.

This has definitely worked well for me. I started it with music and boxing and once I began writing it kind of carried over. I like the results of those short, intense bursts way better. Plus I get a lot of reading time and brainstorming in between intervals.

While my work day doesn’t work that way (you can’t always tell a client you’re not answering the phone for 90 minutes) I think I’ll try this for my creative writing at night. Only 90 minutes, then I can decompress for the evening, let my mind go so I get more rest at night.

If I were to create a perfect writing environment, it would not be adamantly structured in 90 minute sessions, but would include breaks as necessary. It would go something like this:
Rise just before dawn and write until I hit a snag. Leave the manuscript up on the screen and go shower and dress (sometimes running wet from the shower to type in an inspired phrase or two). Return to the computer until the writing process once more becomes a grind. Go for a 60 minute walk and return with an additional chapter to feverishly type out. Head to the piano and play until inspiration hits again. Complete the thought, sit back satisfied and complain, “Good grief, what’s for dinner?”

This does not happen often. Usually my energy is spent in bottling the thoughts so I can make it to my “real” jobs on time. Real jobs are places where the management steadfastly doles out breaks and lunches punctually on their set schedule – unless there is a crisis involving all hands on deck for the 8 hour duration.

This is fascinating. Hadn’t heard of it but am not surprised at all. I’m a huge proponent of recess for elementary school kids and now you’ve given me another tool for my pro-recess toolbox. lol
Thanks!

Great advice. You would not train for a marathon by getting off the couch and running 20 miles the first day. Every time I focus and remind myself of this technique, I am left feeling positive and wanted to sit back down and do more. Such great advice. Thanks for the reminder.

I’m excited to try this method! I have just over three hours each morning while my youngest is in Kindergarten, so I will probably carve out shorter time chunks and throw a little social media time into the mix as well.

I also have ADHD, so the intense focus time interspersed with the breaks are probably exactly what I need

This might just be the solution I need. With a 1-year old not yet at nursery, I have just two hours at lunchtime. It’s hard not to feel panicked as it’s such a short amount of time, but with this in mind, it might work! Reframing, I guess.

Thank you. I’m finding all your blogs really useful.

So, how long is the interval between 90 minutes supposed to be? Sounds like a good idea otherwise. I find that normally occurring brain freeze happens with about this frequency.

Great advice. My husband and I both work from home, so we are going to try this tomorrow. We have used a timer in the past, but it has mainly been a finish line for a goal (ex. I will edit 100 photos in 85 minutes). It has definitely pushed us to work harder, but we often set our goals too high and fail. I think looking at it your way will be a much more positive experience. Thanks!

I haven’t tried this but I will. Sounds like what I need to get me over the hump and remained focused. Thanks.

Thanks for this tip. I’m under the weather with whatever bug is going around. But I should be back at my desk in another day or two. Can’t wait to try this!

I write in increments unconsciously. I set aside at least an hour to work and usually by an hour and a half I’ve run out of inspiration for the day. It tends to aggravate me (especially when I tried to participate in NaNoWriMo last year) but the work that comes in the hour and a half is better then what it would be if I continued.

I began using this method last month and have found that it works particularly well when I am writing children’s fiction in my current series. I will continue using this method when I start a new project next month – also children’s fiction but something different to what I have written before. It will be interesting to see how well it works with this unfamiliar project.

How disappointing a column.

Like all the others I’ve seen on this topic it is full of news about the 90 minute attention cycle but doesn’t offer any useful advice about the length of the breaks. Which makes the 90 minutes info a lot less useful for productivity planning!

It feels like it is just a tease for buying a self-help book.

No, what caught my eye was Voice Of The Mirror getting hot under the collar about the Conservatives “unleashing a sickening stream of smears and innuendo” against Nick Clegg. Yes, that’s right – the paper which tried to defend Labour’s ‘Smeargate’ operation is complaining about Tory “slurs and sinister intimidations”. But there’s more. They then work themselves up about how Gordon Brown “has suffered character assassination for years”. This from the paper that greeted Cameron’s election as Conservative leader with a torrent of cartoons depicting him with a top hat, monocle and cigarette holder, branding him a “Thick Tory Toff”. And which has attacked his charachter on an almost daily basis ever since. oakley polarized monster pup sunglasses blue