One of the most influential books I’ve read in terms of getting shit done is a book called “How to Write a Lot” by Paul Silvia.

Now, this book is actually about academic writing.

It’s for academics who need to do a shit load of writing to get ahead of the game. He wrote in the book that if you’re an academic, you must publish or perish. But, many academics will still procrastinate… and it’s tempting to just do everything else that’s not writing. But this is actually a huge mistake. Because as an academic, the thing that defines your success is the quality and frequency of what you’re putting out in the world. So, you have to prioritise your writing. Treat your writing time as something super important, sacred.

Silvia says for academics, writing time should be scheduled like a meeting or appointment that’s totally fixed and inflexible.

This principle is true when you’re learning English as well.

If you need English in your life, and it’s a barrier to you getting ahead… then improving your English needs to be given top priority. It needs to go in your calendar, and it needs to be sacred.

No changing the time.

No letting other people say, “surely you can do that later?”

No.

Your English learning time is more important than anything else.

For more on this and ideas for what to do in this time, you might like to sign up for my daily email tips for speaking better English. The place to go is here.

Best,
Dr Julian Northbrook