Reverse Calendar

I can't remember whether I've ever recommended Neil Fiore's The Now Habit here before. I love this book. I used to be a chronic procrastinator and can still fall into it. Pressure gets me going, but I would rather stay consistent. I've been using some of the ideas from this book for at least twenty years, ever since I was an undergrad. I clung to it for dear life when I was a graduate student. And it was on my desk throughout the first six years of my career as I was trying to get tenure. Last year, when I was on leave and completing a book that had been in my head for far too long, The Now Habit got me through. And today, I use it to keep me on track with the MFA submissions. There's a lot of good stuff in the book, but there are two tools in particular that have stuck with me: the Unschedule and the Reverse Calendar.

I'll leave the unschedule for another day. Today I had to sit down and do a "reverse calendar" for my next submission, or my desire to be consistent is going to be replaced by that adrenaline rush of a looming deadline. Exactly what I want to avoid this month. The reverse calendar is a backwards schedule of the task ahead, broken down into manageable little steps, "units that you can see yourself accomplishing." It really eases the mind to think in these terms, and allows me to let go of the BIG PROJECT and focus instead on this little piece in front of me today. Here is what my reverse calendar for the March 12 deadline looks like. My first decision is to have the submission completed and in the mail by March 9 to give me a weekend off, so that's when the reverse calendar "starts," namely, when the project ends. Here it is:

March 9 Print, proof-read, and mail annotations, new writing, and cover letter
March 8 Final touches on the new writing and the cover letter
March 5 Draft cover letter; continue revising new writing
March 4 Polishing up the essay daily from Feb 21 to March 4; Satisfactory draft by March 4
Feb 28 Finish reading Hoffman; write second annotation (Hoffman)
Feb 25 Start reading Eva Hoffman, Lost in Translation; write first annotation (Aciman)
Feb 24 Finish shitty first draft of essay; Finish reading Andre Aciman, False Papers: Essays on Exile and Memory
Feb 20 Very shitty first draft of new essay (only task today)
Feb 19 Brainstorm essay again; come up with structure

See how it works? This gives me some achievable goals for each week. It's also really project-oriented, so it doesn't include other things. The main other project will be a research grant application that is due on March 1. I'd draft a reverse calendar for that, but I have exactly ONE day set aside for it, and that is Wednesday this week. I've never claimed to have achieved balance everywhere and in all things.