How do you learn from other people?

How do you learn from other people?

Zenhabits.com has an awesome post on on cranking out articles:
http://freelanceswitch.com/writing-productivity/7-ways-to-crank-out-articles/

I modified them to include my most excellent writing mentor's points. Renee & I had talked about how to write at the graduate level & a generalized structure for getting through the paper. I added some of these ideas to the ZenHabit post (that dude rocks!)

-- Set time limits. Don't write over no matter what. Hold back (another zen habits tip.) Write for say, 20 minutes, only after you have done your research, read that research, and thought about it. *Unless you write on something you already know

-- Write first thing in the morning.

-- Shut off all distractions. Create your place to write, space to write, time to write, method to write. Have a process, move thru it. Think Kata, form, directions, start-go-no stop-all the way to finish.

-- Use Google Docs only if you can handled not being distracted by an Internet connection. Consider a simple word processor like AbiWord or NanoNotepad -bare bones. Do not do one once of formatting: like changing font, bolding etc...

-- Reward yourself with email/ surfing for fun. Tell yourself that you cannot check email (or feeds or whatever distraction is a MUST for you) until you finish your article. Write for 30-minutes, break fo 15-minute break. Write for 10, break for 5. Write for 20, break for 20. Stretch & shorten your breaks; keep a dynamic rhythm.

-- Don't write if you don't have notes to start from; pre-write by doodles, comments, words lists synonyms, etc...

-- Write fast, then revise slow.

One good thing to work on is studying how you do your work: bring some focus, or mindfulness to it. That's the current idea. Shikantaza means just sitting in zen buddhism. This articulates the idea into something palpable.