I do NaNoWriMo yearly and it usually never goes well. Things become due, someone gets sick, something’s going on, the election happened…. There’s always some combination of this that happens and after nine years of this, I’m still trying to find a way around everything.
Things I try (which also work for non-Nano tasks)
Breaking things up into chunks
I love this idea but I lack the discipline to make it work. Your word count for Nano is 1667, or about 500 words three times, four times to build yourself a cushion. Doesn’t sound bad, right? Except the schedule I manage to lay out goes to pieces because something else is due or someone talks to me and then I forgot to write. The takeaway is that this idea can work well, but you have to have the discipline in order to go back to it.
Have a reward system
This idea has the same issues as the first one does. You have to have enough discipline to do the task first, and do the task fully before you get the reward. This doesn’t always work out too well for me because I mean to do the task and just take the reward. I’m currently fighting to get everything done for the night BEFORE I can listen to a Ted Talk.
Make a to-do list
This I do well at. I have a physical planner that I write in and check things off. It helps me to see what I still need to get done. I also sometimes write deadlines in my planner months in advance. It doesn’t actually help to get the work done (or convince me to start the work earlier) but some dates do ring bells and I generally realize that I have something due that day