personality type Archives

PUBLISH DON’T PERISH — TIP #5: Apply APODS to Your Life

This incredible APODS Series, written by Amanda Cabot is a must read for not only writers, but EVERYONE and I recommend you apply APODS to your life. I am a writer and a practicing attorney, and I found it extremely useful in mine. This post will take you through a summary of each article and a link where you can find more. Even if you’ve been following along, I highly recommend reviewing this Series again. Thank you Amanda for sharing your invaluable expertise!

GETTING TO THE END WITH AMANDA CABOT

This article is the first in the series on time management and getting to the end. Although time management is only one part in the multifaceted solution to getting to the end, it’s an introduction to a system that goes by the acronym APODS — Analysis, Priorities, Organization, Discipline and Support. Get a quick peak at each of these five areas.

APODS — ANALYSIS: ANSWERING THE TOUGH QUESTIONS

The analysis phase is the focus of this article. Every author should answer these 3 tough questions:

Why do you write?
Why is this the book of your dreams?
What is keeping you from finishing the book?

Explore what Amanda offers and think about why writing and this book in particular are important to you.

APODS — Analysis: The Three Ps

The analysis phase of APODS includes three Ps:

Personality Type
Productive Times
Present Use of Time

This article takes a closer look at the first — personality type.

APODS – Analysis: The Three Ps, Part Two

Conclude the analysis phase by looking at time. Before you can manage time, you need to understand how you are using it.

Amanda Cabot, time, writing, books, publishing — Time Management

APODS — Priorities: Getting Started

To address priorities, you need to first establish those priorities, understand the opportunity costs of those priorities, and accept the fact that we cannot do everything.

Learn how to make writing your #1 priority.

APODS — Priorities: The Four Ps (Part One)

The Four Ps include: Purpose, Picture, Plan, and Part.

Take an in depth look at the first, purpose.

APODS — Priorities: The Four Ps (Part Two — SMART Goals)

SMART is an acronym to obtain meaningful goals:

Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Relevant
Time-Bound.

SMART goals, William Bridges, specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, time-bound, Amanda Cabot, time management, APODS — APODS – Priorities: The Four Ps (Part Two – SMART Goals)

Explore what it means, why they are important, and how they serve as guideposts. See how to reach for success!

APODS — Priorities: The Four Ps (Part Three — Plan and Part)

Create the Plan and organize it into a logical sequence. It can be done if you break everything down into small tasks. Check out these tips!

APODS — Priorities: The Opportunity Cost

Are you familiar with opportunity cost? Explore the opportunity cost of writing. Remember, “Time to write is not free.”

Amanda Cabot, APODS, time management, calendar, analysis, productive, timer, personality type, use of time, getting to the end, goal, Cimarron Creek Trilogy, priorities, successful people — Priorities

APODS — Organization: Advice from the Experts

This article focuses on ideas gleamed from Marilyn Paul’s book, It’s Hard to Make a Difference When You Can’t Find Your Keys. Amanda discusses 4 of her points she found particularly useful.

APODS — Organization: Part Two

The discussion of Organization is wrapped up with advice from two experts.

APODS — Discipline

Eight particularly useful suggestions are provided to help you get to “The End.”

APODS — Support

Support is the final step in the APODS Series. You will not want to miss this article!

This Series has been an invaluable resource for so many, especially me. What did you find most helpful?

Amanda Cabot is no stranger to getting to “The End.” She juggled a sixty-hour a week job with nonnegotiable deadlines and building a house long-distance at the same time that she wrote two books a year. Whether or not she kept her sanity during that time is debatable. Amanda is the best-selling author of over thirty novels, eight novellas, four non-fiction books, and what she describes as enough technical articles to cure insomnia in a medium-sized city.

Out of the Embers, the first of the Mesquite Springs trilogy, has an official release date of March 3, but it’s currently available for preorder at all the major online retailers. If you prefer brick and mortar stores, your local bookseller should be able to order a copy for you.

You can find Amanda at:www.AmandaCabot.com https://www.facebook.com/amanda.j.cabot
https://twitter

APODS – Priorities: Getting Started by Amanda Cabot

Are you ready to address priorities? They’re the second step in the APODS process and one of the most important, so let’s get started.

In his best-selling book, The 7 Habits of Highly Successful People, Stephen Covey advises us to “organize and execute around priorities.” While that may sound simple, many of us find it difficult. Why? In order to follow Covey’s advice we need to:

Establish those priorities
Understand the opportunity cost
Accept the fact that we cannot do everything.

Over the next few months, we’ll address each of those points. Today let’s talk about establishing priorities.

Brian Tracy, author of Time Power, points out that behaviors are a matter of choice. What a profound thought! If it’s truly important to us, whenever there’s a choice of how to spend our time, we can choose to write. And if we make that choice consistently over a long enough period, it will become a habit.

But, and this is a big but, choice means change, and change is difficult. The good news is, change can be managed. The key to getting to “The End” is to make writing your #1 priority. The question is, how do you do that?

Last month I encouraged you to track your current use of time and then categorize it. Were you surprised by your analysis? What were your biggest time sinks? Which can you eliminate or at least minimize?

If you discovered that you spent a lot of time running errands every day, can you consolidate errands into a single day, freeing up time for writing on the other days?

Did you discover that your writing time was fragmented by phone calls or text messaging? If so, consider establishing office hours when you turn off your phone. Yes, I know that sounds like heresy, but each interruption costs you not only the time you spend on the interruption but also the time it takes to get back to work on your manuscript.

Did you find that social media took more time than you thought? While I’m not suggesting you ignore your friends, the reality is that time you spend posting your status and laughing at cute cat videos is time you are not writing. Remember, behaviors are a matter of choice. We all need to choose wisely.

What we also need is to create what I call a “culture of writing.” What that means is that reminders of writing are never far away, so each time you have the opportunity to make a choice between writing and not writing, you choose writing.

cover, reminder, priorities, Amanda Cabot, APODS — Place your cover everywhere.

One way to reinforce the importance of your book is to create a cover for it. It doesn’t have to be an artistic wonder. It could be nothing more than the title and your name. (If you don’t have a title, My #1 New York Times Bestseller might motivate you.) Print out a dozen or so copies and then post them throughout your house and on anything connected to your biggest time sinks. That way, when you go to the refrigerator for a break and a pint of ice cream, you’ll see your cover and be reminded that instead of eating, you ought to be writing. Similarly, if your cover is propped up in front of your TV or taped to the back of your phone, when you’re tempted to watch a show, check messages for the thousandth time today, or search for another funny video, you’ll be reminded that you have a choice.

The key is to remain focused on writing. The reality is, if you don’t make it a very, very, very high priority, you’ll spend your time on other things and will never reach “The End.” You don’t want that, do you?

Her most recent release is A Borrowed Dream, the second in the Cimarron Creek trilogy.

Amanda Cabot, Cimarron Creek, A Stolen Heart — A Borrowed Dream by Amanda Cabot Cimarron Creek Trilogy

You can find Amanda at:

www.amandacabot.com
https://www.facebook.com/amanda.j.cabot
https://twitter.com/AmandaJoyCabot/
http://amandajoycabot.blogspot.com/

APODS – Analysis: The Three Ps, Part Two by Amanda Cabot

Last month we began our discussion of the three Ps

Personality Type
Present Use of Time
Productive Times

and talked about personality types. This month we’re going to conclude the analysis phase of APODS by looking at time. You’re probably saying, “It’s about time – pun intended,” since one aspect of APODS is time management. But before you can manage time, you need to understand how you’re currently using time and when you’re most productive, which is what we’re going to do this month.

APODS, Amanda Cabot, 3 Ps — Collect Data Using a Calendar

While you may think you know the answer to both questions, I challenge you to spend a week collecting data that will either confirm or refute your opinions. All you need is a simple calendar. You’ll note that this one is divided into half-hour increments and that it covers only the normal working day. You may want to extend this so that it covers all waking time.

Here’s the process:

Set a timer and at the end of each half hour, make a note of what you did for the previous thirty minutes. If you’re tempted to skip this step and simply record your activities at the end of the day, I urge you not to yield to temptation. As someone who used to have to bill her time by half hours, I learned that it’s important – make that essential – to record your time at the end of each half hour. You may think you’ll remember everything you’ve done during the day, but – trust me – you won’t.

If you felt particularly productive during a half hour, highlight it.
At the end of the week, categorize how you spent your time. Suggested categories include but are not limited to writing, work (if you have an outside job), recreation/personal, family, friends, cooking/cleaning/other housework, TV, social media. This becomes key input to our next phase: priorities.

After you’ve characterized your time, note the times that you highlighted as being most productive. Is there a clear pattern?

Do you think you’ll be surprised? You won’t know until you’ve tried it.

And if you’re wondering why we’re doing this, it’s because our goal is to identify the best time to write and ultimately to find a way to write during that time. While it’s easy to say, “I’m a morning person” or “I’m a night person,” the answer is more complex. You need to consider the entire week, since some days may be better for you than others.

We’ve reached the end of the Analysis phase. If we’ve done this well, each of us has a better understanding of who we are, when we’re most likely to do our best writing, and what other activities are keeping us from doing that writing.

Next month we’ll start prioritizing.

Her most recent release is A Borrowed Dream, the second in the Cimarron Creek trilogy.

You can find Amanda at:

www.amandacabot.com
https://www.facebook.com/amanda.j.cabot
https://twitter.com/AmandaJoyCabot/
http://amandajoycabot.blogspot.com/

APODS – Analysis: The Three Ps by Amanda Cabot

As we continue the analysis phase of APODS, we’re going to discuss what I’ve called the three Ps:

Personality Type
Productive Times
Present Use of Tim

This month we’ll address the first one. If that sounds a bit intimidating, don’t worry. The goal is not to change your personality but to understand it, since understanding is the first step toward becoming more productive.

Amanda Cabot, time management, writing, publishing, books, articles, A Borrowed Dream, Cimarron Creek trilogy, fiction, non-fiction, deadlines, why write, dreams, fear, success, rejection, priorities — Personality Types

How many of you have taken the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator assessment? If you haven’t, I highly recommend that you do so. There are online sites that offer free versions, and while they may not be as complete as the real MBTI, they might give you some important insights into why finishing a book is relatively easy for you or why “The End” seems elusive.

The result of the MBTI assessment is a four-letter personality type. Each of those letters relates to one of four elements and describes your preferences for:
– How you energize yourself (Extraversion or Introversion)
– How you learn about the world (Sensing or iNtuition)
– How you make decisions (Thinking or Feeling)
– Whether you prefer closure or options (Judgment or Perception)

While they’re all important for understanding how you communicate and how you view life, the critical one for getting to “The End” is the final one.
Why? Let’s look at the differences in personalities between those whose preference is J (which stands for Judgment, but not Judgmental) and those who are Ps (Perception).

A person who scored high as a J likes control, structure, and organization. A J wants to make decisions and come to closure. On the other hand, a P is spontaneous and wants to understand rather than control. A P prefers flexibility and is open to new options and gathering more information. While Ps will probably never suffer from writer’s block, they will have more trouble getting to “The End” than a J.

Even if you haven’t taken the MBTI assessment, think about yourself and your approach to writing. Do you find yourself excited and sometimes sidetracked by possible new plot points for your book, or, once you’ve started the book, do you feel compelled to finish it? The answer may help you understand whether you’re a J or a P.

If you’re a J, you may still be challenged to finish a book, but chances are you’ll have an easier time than a P. So, if you’re a P, should you give up writing, knowing it could be difficult to reach “The End”? Absolutely not. As I said at the beginning of this post, the important thing is to recognize your personality type and how it impacts your writing. Strong Ps can – and do – write books. The techniques that we’re going to discuss over the next few months are designed to help everyone, but they’re particularly useful for Ps.

See you next month! And in case you were wondering, I’m an ENTJ with both the N and J being very strong.

Her most recent release is A Borrowed Dream, the second in the Cimarron Creek trilogy.

You can find Amanda at:

www.amandacabot.com
https://www.facebook.com/amanda.j.cabot
https://twitter.com/AmandaJoyCabot/
http://amandajoycabot.blogspot.com/

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: