Do you “Wake Up Exhausted” like Tegan and Sara’s song?
Do you relate to Post Malone’s “Always Tired” face tattoos?
Has age or health problems reduced your energy levels?
Do you lack the energy to do the writing you want to do?
If so, this episode of The Writing Coach podcast is for you!
In this episode, I discuss productivity, time management, and dealing with reduced energy levels.
Listen to the full episode or read the transcript below:
The Writing Coach Episode #130 Show Notes
Get Kevin’s FREE book: NOVEL ADVICE: MOTIVATION, INSPIRATION, AND CREATIVE WRITING TIPS FOR ASPIRING AUTHORS.
The Writing Coach Episode #130 Transcript
Hello, beloved listeners. And welcome back to the writing coach podcast. It is your host as always writing coach Kevin T. Johns here. How are you doing? I have a confession to make I’m tired. <Laugh> as I’ve record this, I am tired. And that is actually the topic of today’s podcast. We’re gonna talk about tiredness, energy productivity, and all of these things. Now I have a free book that I gave away on my website, head on over to www dot Kevin T John’s dot com and click on the link at the top that says free book, or look for a popup and drop your email address in there. And you’ll get a free copy of my book, Novel Advice: Motivation, Inspiration, and Creative Writing Tips for Aspiring Authors. Now, as I was getting ready to launch that book, I was sending it out to all sorts of people asking for book blurbs that I could use in the marketing of the book.
And a ton of people give me really great blurbs, which I was able to use. I’m so thankful to all of them, but one of the first people I asked, denied giving me a blurb. And his explanation was that the advice I was giving in the book around productivity and working hard was antithetical to the advice he generally gives. He was telling me he was really concerned about people working too hard, burning out not having enough energy. And he said he could just couldn’t get behind a book. <Laugh> that said work hard. You know, I had a chapter in there called “Work like a Roofer.” I tell a story about watching through the window as I’m writing away on my novel. I’m looking out, and I’m seeing these guys working on a roof across from me. And it really made me think about as writers, do we work hard enough?
Are we working like roofers? Are we out there, you know, eight hours a day in the sun working <laugh>. And, and so that was what that chapter was about. But I think to him, it was dangerous to tell people to work as hard as roofers, maybe, maybe roofers shouldn’t be working as hard as they do. And at the time, I mean, I could see where he was coming from, but I obviously, you know, didn’t really agree. I’ve used to teach a lot of live workshops, you know, and when you teach these things, you know, in person, it’s always great to hand out a survey afterwards and say, what did you like? What didn’t you like? What was helpful? What could be improved? And every time I did these, I’d give them out to the authors in the workshops. And I’d always be waiting for the answer about you. I would just waiting for the day, I’d get that feedback. It would be like, Kevin is so handsome. Kevin is so smart and insightful,
But I gotta say about 90% of the time, what they said was Kevin has such great energy. Kevin loved your energy, keep it up. And so, yeah, I’ve always had a lot of energy and, and enthusiasm for creativity and for teaching, but what has happened you know, over the last few years and particularly over this last year is I’ve had some serious health issues. And I’ve also just gotten older <laugh> I’m in my forties, and I don’t have the energy that I once had. I am tired a lot of the time. And, and, you know, when these health issues, you know, first kind of became apparent, it was terrifying for me because as I just said, I’m someone who’s always ridden on my energy. People have felt like my energy is the thing that inspires them and gets their energy you know, creative juices flowing to do the work.
They need to do their creative work. And so it was really scary to me to say, oh, you know, I don’t think I have the energy that I once had, but rather than being scared <laugh> or freaking out, you know, what I quickly realized was that I really did need to rethink my approach to writing and creativity and, and let me put it this way. One of the most popular webinars I used to host back in the day was a great webinar called how to find the time to write. Maybe I’ll host it again sometime, but I’ll certainly be updating it because the old version of that presentation, it largely approached finding the time to write as a time management exercise. I talk all about tracking time about creating non-negotiable writing time in your calendar, doing all these things to carve out in your schedule, the time to write.
But now as I’ve gotten older and I’ve had health issues now I’ve realized finding time to write or finding time to do creative work, what’s important to you, is not just a willpower exercise. It’s not just a time management exercise. It’s an energy management exercise. And, you know, I’m almost grateful for these health issues because they’ve given me new perspective that I can use to help other people get their writing done. Because it’s not just about getting it in your schedule. It’s about having the energy to get the work done when that slot in your schedule comes up. Now, I think in our culture
Being tired is, is, seemed as something to be ashamed of or you’re lazy, or, or it’s your own fault that you’re tired. I mean, I think about teenagers, and there’s, this view that teenagers are lazy because they sleep in on the weekends. Even if they’re getting up at six in the morning, every weekday to get on a school bus and go to school. And of course, teenagers, bodies are growing and changing at an extraordinary rate. They physically need more sleep. And we’ve created this school culture where they’re getting up every morning, they’re not getting enough sleep. And then people are shocked that when they do have an opportunity to sleep in on the weekends, they do, you know, really it would be great if we rethought our education system and said, Hey, maybe we should prioritize, sleep and rest over kids being able to get up and go to school as though it’s a job.
It’s like the the entire structure is focused on prepping them for the workplace instead of prepping them to be the best, their best selves and their healthiest selves. But the reality is human beings need sleep. And as we get older, we probably need more of it. And when we’re growing as teenagers, we need more of it. And that’s not anything to be ashamed of. It’s just something to monitor and manage. We need to not burn ourselves out, and we need to have the energy available to do the things that we want to do when we’re able to do them. I saw a study recently and what it was was the self-reported hours, and it was broken up by income. So we said, this is how many hours a week the richest people work. This is how many hours a week the poorest people work.
And the number of hours was barely negligible. It’s like the lowest income earners were working like 39 hours to 40 hours a week. And the highest income wor earners we’re working like 44 to 46 hours a week. So the difference between, you know, a millionaire and someone making minimum wage, barely getting by is maybe one-hour extra work a week. And so why is that? Well, I mean, obviously it’s about inequalities in the in our economy and whatnot, but why does, why do people not work more it’s because we only have so much energy to give I’m sure those CEOs and millionaires who are like living for their career would probably love to work more, but they don’t have the energy for it. We know that the five-day workweek was fought for by unions and working people. This was really a fight that they had to win in order to get weekends so that the concept of weekends could even exist.
But when you think about why the business owners, why those in power might be willing to capitulate to something like a five-day work week or benefits or all of these things that unions fight for us. I mean, it’s because they acknowledge they’ll probably get better work outta their workers. If they let them rest for two days, you know, working them seven days a week would probably be the preferred method if it got the best quality work, but the reality is it doesn’t, and everyone acknowledges it because human beings need rest and they need sleep. And so what are the takeaways here? What am I trying to get at? Well, one, if you are like me and you’re always tired, you and me in Post Malone, you know, it’s okay. It’s nothing to be ashamed of. There’s nothing wrong with you. You’re not lazy.
It’s not a moral failing. You’re probably just not getting the amount of sleep that you need. And that might be for a variety of reasons. Maybe it’s because family work responsibilities don’t allow you to get the work done. Maybe it’s stuff like anxiety that prevents you from falling asleep. Maybe it’s sleep aping. I mean, there, there’s a ton of different reasons. You might not be getting enough rest. And most of the time, that’s not your fault. And so it’s nothing to be ashamed of to feel tired. But what that does mean as a creative person, as a writer, as an artist who wants to get things done and who wants to remain productive, what we need to do is think about things. As I said, not just in terms of time management or willpower management or the ability to overcome resistance, but the ability to manage our energy.
So am I tired? Way more than I used to be? Yes, I am. But am I allowing that to affect my work? Am I allowing that to affect my ability to inspire my clients? Is that preventing me from making this podcast? Absolutely not. Because I’m careful with my energy now. I’m, I’m no longer in that work, like a roofer mindset where I’m just getting up and working with every piece of energy that I have all day long instead, I’m protecting that energy. I’m, parcelling it out. I’m being smart about where I direct my energies because I just don’t have as much as I used to. And so that might be you two, as you grow older. I really think writing is one of the best art forms for older people. I, I work with so many people who retire and then finally have the time to work on the book. They’ve always wanted to write their whole lives. And I think that’s wonderful because I think writing is about entertaining people and providing escapism. But it’s also about sharing wisdom and wisdom comes with lived experience. Wisdom comes with age. Wisdom is about having been there before, and maybe seeing the things cycle back around again, 10 years later, you know, it’s this again, you know, this isn’t all new or fresh to me anymore.
So if you’re getting older and if you don’t have the energy you once had, if you’re dealing with a health issue and, and you’re always tired, you know what that’s okay manage it, don’t feel ashamed of it. It’s not a moral failing. It’s just the reality of what it is to be a physical human being in the world. So monitor your energy, protect your energy, and dedicate it to the things that matter the most to you.
Now, as I said, I have that free book. I’d love to get you on my mailing list. So head on over to www.kevintjohns.com and sign up to get yourself a free copy of Novel Advice: Motivation, Inspiration, and Creative Writing Tips for Aspiring Authors.
That is it for this week. Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast so that I can see you on another episode of The Writing Coach.
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