Amanda Linehan's Blog, page 5

When Productivity Is Not About (Traditional) Productivity

What do you think about when you hear the word “productivity”?

Maybe it conjures up images of pushing hard, working long hours, struggling, using lots of willpower and self-discipline. Maybe you get an image of a factory–people working longer, harder and faster to produce more widgets. Or maybe you think of rigid schedules and systems, all meant to keep you in line for greater and greater results.

Are you exhausted yet? I am.

Productivity doesn’t have to be about faster, longer, harder, in fact, it can be about aligning yourself with your inner energy and with the energy outside of you to get the most output from the least effort. Now that sounds like something I’m interested in.

I’ve spent many years thinking and experimenting with the best ways for me to get things done–because there were definitely things I wanted to get done. Up until several years ago, I worked a traditional 8-5 office job. I’m also a writer and a self-publisher. Now, I’m self-employed. I wanted to be able to do these things without feeling completely drained or like I was constantly exhausting myself.

But when I looked out into the world and sought out productivity advice, frankly, it just didn’t suit me. I’d try a few things here and there, but I either couldn’t stick to it or it would make me feel awful. I was clearly grinding against my natural rhythms, so I had to start experimenting for myself.

And the good news was that when I let go of what I was “supposed to do” and did things the way I was inclined to do them, I got better results than I thought. And I felt great.

This meant doing things like becoming aware of my energy rhythms throughout the day and matching activities to those rhythms, rather than creating a very structured schedule and pushing myself through it no matter what.

Or using my intuition to help me prioritize and pick out what to work on next, rather than using analysis or other mind-based tools to pick my next activity. I would feel energized and enthusiastic as I started to work rather than constrained and grumpy.

It also meant learning to leave space in my schedule in order to feel more refreshed, have better ideas and, frankly, to enjoy myself more as I was working. When I had space in my day, things felt free, abundant and relaxed rather than tense, stressed and like I was constantly on a treadmill I couldn’t get off of.

So this is all to say that I learned that productivity was not about “push” but was about “alignment” and I found ways of working that allowed me to get done everything I wanted to get done.

If you’re interested in learning more about productivity within your own natural rhythms, check out my book Productivity For INFPs and my mini-course of the same name. I’m confident you’re going to come away with a least a few actionable ideas right away.

I’m also delivering a live, virtual workshop called Productivity For INFPs on Sunday, April 25, 2021 at 1pm EDT. It’s 90 minutes long and is being hosted by my friend Jas Hothi, INFP and curator of INF Club. We’ll be covering topics like prioritizing, decision making, goal setting and more with a mixture of presentation and conversation. For more details and to register check out this page right here. Registration ends on Friday, April 23, 2021 at 6:59 EDT. Hope to see you there!

Amanda Linehan is the author of Productivity For INFPs. She is a multi-genre fiction writer, indie author and INFP, who has published five novels and has been read in 113 countries. Amanda was a speaker at the INF Summit in February 2020. Get  the first two sections of Productivity For INFPs for free  when you sign up to her For INFPs newsletter.

Visual Journaling

I like to doodle. Especially, I like doing mandala exercises, which basically involves drawing a circle and then doodling inside that circle.

I’ve been doing this for a couple of years after reading The Empath’s Journey by Ritu Kaushal. I had the pleasure of doing a beta read for her book and was fascinated by the section on mandalas and color.

The basic idea explored in that section was that drawing what is going on inside of us is sometimes a better way to process emotions and energy than verbalizing what is going on inside of us. When we have many emotions rumbling beneath the surface and we express those things through color and art, that energy gets expressed and moves on. We can feel lighter, brighter and more peaceful by intuitively choosing colors and shapes that simply want to come out of us. It’s a great exercise.

At the time I started doing this, I had lots of emotions that could sometimes feel stuck within me. Like they were all in one great big jumble. Doodling inside circles helped me process this energy.

Late in 2020 I had also begun to consider a challenge for myself–namely doing a 365-day challenge–where I committed to doing something everyday. I thought about a few different things, but mandala drawing won out.

So, for 2021 I will be keeping a visual journal everyday, where I will draw a circle and then fill it in with the colors and shapes that want to come out of me. I got started on December 31st.

“Visual journal” was a phrase that just came to me around what I wanted to do, and I also took a look around the internet to see if this was a thing. Not surprising, turns out it is.

One article described visual journaling as “a thinking space for those that don’t always think in words.” I loved this and I also thought it described something about INFPs well.

INFPs take in a lot of information from the outside world through our intuition. We also feel things deeply. When you combine these two things you get a lot going on inside one person! I wondered if I was attracted to drawing mandalas and visual journaling as a way to process all this inner stuff.

I think there is a lot to be said for non-verbal ways of expressing ourselves (and this is coming from me, a writer!). There is something about the way that energy moves when it’s not being expressed in words but through our bodies.

So, that’s one of the things that I will be up to this year–keeping my visual journal. I’m interested to see how it moves my energy on a regular basis and, also, what patterns may come up in my doodles.

I’m posting all my mandala doodles on Instagram, so if you are interested you can follow me there!

And one more thing to note–I’m doing these on my chalkboard wall in my home office, so that adds another tactile element to this exercise. There is just something about writing on the walls…

Amanda Linehan is the author of Productivity For INFPs. She is a multi-genre fiction writer, indie author and INFP, who has published five novels and has been read in 113 countries. Amanda was a speaker at the INF Summit in February 2020. Get the first two sections of Productivity For INFPs for free when you sign up to her For INFPs newsletter.

A Productivity Story: Snow Shoveling

Amanda Linehan is the author of Productivity For INFPs. She is a multi-genre fiction writer, indie author and INFP, who has published five novels and has been read in 113 countries. Amanda was a speaker at the INF Summit in February 2020. Get the first two sections of Productivity For INFPs for free when you sign up to her For INFPs newsletter.

Two Simple Ways To Use A Timer To Keep Yourself On Track

Sometimes, I like to use a timer when I work. There’s something about a completely objective external parameter that works very well for me. But I use it in a couple different ways: one to get me to work and one to stop me from working.

To Get Working

So I think this is the more obvious of the two uses. If you have a task that you really do not want to do and you’ve been procrastinating on, especially, if it’s going to take a long time, you can set a timer for a certain amount of time to work on said task and then allow yourself to stop when it goes off.

When I was trying to get my taxes done earlier this year, I used this method. I did not particularly relish doing my taxes, so every day (or fairly close to it) I would set a timer for 30 minutes and work on my taxes for that amount of time and no more.

It felt more manageable that way, but I was also moving forward with them. I think this works best if the amount of time set is relatively short. You’re basically saying to yourself, “just sit down and do this little bit and then I’ll be done for the day.” This method gets me moving on tasks that I simply don’t want to do.

To Stop Working

The other way I use a timer is when I need to stop working on something. Generally, this is an activity where my perfectionism is kicking up really strong and I need to make sure I’m not working too much on it.

Once again, I’ll set a timer for what I feel is an appropriate amount of time for me to be working on something, and then I have to work to get everything done in that amount of time, committing to stopping when the timer goes off.

This could be just part of the activity or the whole activity, but it keeps me moving forward in an appropriate fashion when I want to tinker away forever on this thing.

I use this method, for instance, when I’m writing book blurbs for fellow indie authors ( I do some freelance self publishing services). I set a timer for the first draft and then the second draft and I don’t work past the timer. I find this really focuses me and keeps me from tinkering with it FOREVER which I would have a tendency to do. It reins in my perfectionism quite nicely.

New Release – 3 Novel YA Box Set

I’m happy to announce the release of Teens, Trees and Tests: A Collection of Three Young Adult Novels.

This young adult box set is available in ebook and paperback and features my three standalone contemporary YA novels: Uncover, The Test and Lakeside.

If you like suspense, thrills and humor and are looking to do some inexpensive reading, check out this box set.

For one week only, through July 16th, Teens, Trees and Tests is available for $2.99 (reg. $7.99) for the ebook and $15.99 (reg. $18.99) for the paperback. Available at many online booksellers including Amazon, Apple, Barnes & Noble, Google Play, Kobo and Smashwords. (Paperback available at Amazon.)

If you enjoy Teens, Trees and Tests it would be great if you left a review on the retailer where you bought it. Word of mouth is an author’s best friend and much appreciated!

Happy Reading!

The INFP Idea Process (Moving From Idea To Creation)

I have a lot of ideas. Like, a lot. So many that I would never be able to follow through on all of them. I think this is a good problem to have.

But when I do follow through with one, I’ve noticed that there tends to be a certain process I follow. In a nutshell, the idea begins very vaguely and only starts to take shape when I start to move forward with it.

Let me illustrate this a little further. When I feel the pull to start something or create something, it’s usually not much more than that–a feeling. I may, and often don’t, have any specifics about this thing that I’d like to create. But what I have are my feelings about it.

I may feel curious and excited. My intuition may be giving me a green light to walk forward. My attention and my energy feel drawn toward this thing. And the funny thing is I may not have any other information besides that. I will have absolutely no specifics about this thing, I just know I’m going to start walking forward with it.

The image I use to represent the idea at this stage is an amorphous blob. The idea has no shape at this point, but it does exist. I see it as being made of gas so it’s kind of moving and pulsing as it floats in my mind.

Now, I’ve gotten stuck here before because there is a part of me that says I need more clarity to start moving forward. I need to shape that amorphous blob into something before I can begin to walk forward with it. Right? I need to know where I’m going in order to get going. Seems to make sense, right?

Wrong.

If I try to force that blob into something, it seizes up. My excitement and energy fade away. I start to feel frustrated and I may being thinking that this wasn’t such a great idea after all. I’m disillusioned with my blob.

But, if I let the blob just be a blob for a while things start to take shape.

Because, there’s no real reason that I have to try to shape that blob right away before I begin to work with it. I can hold the excitement and energy of the idea and let it draw me forward.

I may decide to take some small step with my blob like sending someone an email or writing a blog post or jotting down some ideas. Maybe I’ll begin to play around with whatever it is I think I’d like to create, just to get some energy moving.

And then I may notice that certain things in my environment seem to be “speaking to me.” I’ll happen upon an article that gives me an idea to try. I’ll be talking to a friend and they say something that gives me a missing puzzle piece. I’ll find an online course that will help me learn something to move me forward.

And suddenly the blob is looking a lot more shapely.

To give a recent example, back in February I was a speaker in The INF Summit hosted by Lauren Sapala and Jas Hothi. As I watched some of the other speakers in the summit, there were many of them who did coaching and also taught online courses, and my ears perked up. I immediately felt some energy around doing those things myself, though I didn’t know what I would create a course on or what kind of coaching I would do.

And I still don’t exactly know because both of those ideas are in the blob form. But, I have taken some action and come across things that have helped me clarify them a little.

It sounds kind of odd to say “Hey, I’d love to create an online course” without first knowing what you’d want to teach, but that’s exactly the kind of thing I do all the time. The temptation is to try to push for that clarity right away, but at this point, I know to let it be for a while and let the next steps in the process come to me.

The likely candidate for the course would be something on Productivity For INFPs since I recently published a book on the subject, and I could have just dug right in and started creating the course. But that felt like I was pushing the blob a little too much and that it just needed to remain a blob for a while.

I have to remember that there was one point in my life where I said to myself “I’d love to write a book” and had no idea what the book would be. Now, I have five published novels and one non-fiction book.

Managing Fear

I don’t think I have to go into detail on why we all may be experiencing more fear at this time. But it did make me think about the last three years of my life, as I quit my job and transitioned into being a full time writer.

I’ve had plenty of fear. And a part of my journey was learning to manage it. So here’s a few tips.

Do Things That Are Soothing To You–When things would get overwhelming for me, I learned to take the time to do things that soothed me. For me, this could be going outside–for a walk, on the deck, hiking–just something outside, drinking tea and sitting quietly, talking to a supportive friend, listening to music–something without any vocals, ideally, piano music is great–or listening/reading/watching someone who’s work I found inspiring and interesting. This is always a good thing to do, but when my fear levels were especially high, it was ESSENTIAL. It brought me back down to relative calm, where I could see things from a different perspective.

Go Slowly–This is a big one. When my fear levels are high, I want to react. I want to take some action that, I hope, will reduce my fear. But what tends to happen is I start rushing around and forcing things. This DOES NOT reduce my fear. It tends to only make it grow. So I learned to slow down when I needed to, taking more breaks during the day and making time to sit/lie down and be quiet.

Find Support–Reaching out to other people can be great in helping you not feel so alone and overwhelmed with your feelings. This can mean face to face or over the phone, which is especially supportive if it’s a trusted friend, or it could mean a virtual community. Talking with others about what’s going on with you releases some of the pressure of what you’re feeling and hearing about someone else’s feelings and thoughts makes you realize you’re not the only one freaking out about your problems! We all freak out sometimes. It’s just nice not to feel so alone with it.

Let Yourself Feel Afraid–I found that pushing away feelings of fear tended to intensify them, and admitting that I had them lessened the intensity. And then I could do something about them. It doesn’t feel very good to be afraid, especially if it’s insistent. Fear is an emotion that I tent to want to get rid of/push away/ignore, but none of those really help. I’m human after all and fear is simply one of the basic emotions we all experience. It was okay to be afraid, I learned. If I can be present with it, it will eventually move on, just like all emotions.

Breathe–Okay, this one may sound like the worst kind of cliche, but doing intentional breathing exercises can really help with fear. The way we pull breath in and out of our bodies contributes to how we feel. Think about what happens to your breath when you are afraid. Taking a few minutes to slow down and even out my breathing can make me feel a lot calmer. One of my favorite exercises is simply to sit somewhere, put a hand on my belly and focus on it expanding when I breathe in and pulling back toward my body when I breathe out.

Being afraid is no fun, but I’ve found that it’s just part of the journey. It’s never going away completely, but there are ways to manage fear.

And don’t forget to appreciate all the great things going on around you too.

Amanda Linehan is the author of North, about a young woman on the run from her past, the law and an old adversary out to get her. Her newest release is Bored To Death: A Vampire Thriller, about a 300-year-old vampire trying to restore the balance between life and death. She has published five novels. Get a free short story every month when you sign up for her newsletter.

New Book Release: Productivity For INFPs

Hey, I’ve got a new book out! Check out the video below to hear more about it. Get Productivity For INFPs in ebook or paperback.

Get Productivity For INFPs now: Ebook | Paperback

Amanda Linehan is the author of North, about a young woman on the run from her past, the law and an old adversary out to get her. Her newest release is Bored To Death: A Vampire Thriller, about a 300-year-old vampire trying to restore the balance between life and death. She has published five novels. Get a free short story every month when you sign up for her newsletter.

Writers, Don’t Endlessly Revise. Practice.

As a writer who talks to other writers, and reads a lot about writing, I don’t hear that much about practicing writing. I hear a lot about revising your work, and at what point it’s “good enough,” and when you should put it out there for other people to read. But, practice? Not so much.

I think this is because many (all?) writers revise their work, myself included, and it can feel that if you just revise enough you will get that story or book into perfect shape, no matter where you are in your writing journey.

But as I’ve gone along on my own journey, I’ve realized that there is no such thing as a perfect story, no matter how much I revise.

What I didn’t understand as well when I first started writing was the concept of practicing writing, which is pretty weird because I’ve practiced a lot of things in my life.

As a teenager, I played basketball, and when it was basketball season, we practiced almost every day. Currently, I’m learning to play the piano (or the keyboard, in my case, because that’s what I have), and I practice regularly (a great break from being in my head writing by the way!). When I first began cooking, I had to practice to make consistently good meals. I wasn’t just whipping up a great dinner from things I found in the fridge right away.

And in my 11 years of writing fiction, I’ve been practicing all that time, even if I didn’t see it that way at first.

To make this very simple, if you write five stories you are going to be a better writer on the fifth story than you were on the first, no matter how much revising you are doing. The simple concept of repetition will help you improve your writing whether you are thinking of it consciously or not.

Writers can get stuck in revision, and in many cases, this is due to fear of moving on and not for story reasons. It may be that in order to improve your writing, you need to let a story go at a certain point and move on to new stories. That’s how you get better. By doing it over and over again, instead of revising the shit out of your current manuscript.

But I also know it’s not that easy. It can be hard to let go of something you feel isn’t perfect, or close to perfect, because what might someone say if they read it?

What I also like about the idea of practicing writing is that no writing is ever wasted–and writers can worry about that a lot–because it’s all practice.

Even this blog post.

For INFPs Newsletter

Some people have noticed but I wanted to officially announce my new For INFPs newsletter. It’s so new that I haven’t even sent the first email!

You can sign up here. I’ve got a lot of ideas for the content of the newsletter, but it will definitely include resources, news and tips for INFPs. I may also do things like interviews or showcase some INFP creations (art/writing/who knows what else?). I’ll probably also write some exclusive content for it–like exclusive blog posts. So we’ll see!

I think this is a great example of my P (Perceiving), by the way. Instead of having a defined path to walk forward on, I’m staying open to possibilities and exploring as I go. For me, that’s definitely a way of working that is energizing, and I would imagine it is for many other INFPs as well.

Also, if you are not an INFP or don’t know if you are an INFP, you are still very welcome on the newsletter.