What you can learn from the secrets of masters to become more productive

Note to readers: Hello world is a program developers run to check if a newly installed programming language is working alright. Startups and tech companies are continuously launching new software to run the real world. This column will attempt to be the "Hello World" for the real world.

Stephen King has written 61 novels. And some 200 short stories. With over 350 million copies sold, he’s hard to miss. You’ve probably read his books and seen some of his novels adapted into movies — Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, and The Running Man to name a few.

Agatha Christie wrote more than 75 books. Over 2 billion copies of her books have been sold. Many generations have grown up flipping pages of her books as Hercule Poirot, Miss Marple, Tommy, and Tuppence unravel intricate mysteries.

Isaac Asimov (setting his nasty behaviour with women aside to stay on point here) wrote and edited 500 books. Many of his books such as the Bicentennial Man; I, robot, and Nightfall have been made into movies.

They’re all prolific. They’ve written more than most average readers can even hope to read in a lifetime. This columnist has often wondered and gone down a few rabbit holes to try and find the secret of their productivity and of course answer the question: what gives them ideas?

Is it coffee? Like French novelist Balzac who drank some 50 cups of coffee a day, and is said to have written a 14,000-word story in one night? Is it Nicotine? Like King who smoked a fair bit? Or are they freaks of nature? Asimov is quick to remind us that though many great ideas come from people who seem eccentric, it is not a necessary, or sufficient condition.

“To be a crackpot is not, however, enough in itself,” he says.

What Is The Common Thread?

But there’s one thing that you will find common among many of them. They shut the door when they write. “The closed door is your way of telling the world and yourself that you mean business; you have made a serious commitment to write and intend to walk the walk as well as talk the talk,” Stephen King writes in his book On Writing: A Memoir to the Craft.  Isaac Asimov writes in his essay ‘How do creative people get ideas’: “My feeling is that as far as creativity is concerned, isolation is required. The creative person is, in any case, continually working at it.”

In short, they cut out distractions while they’re at it.

These days, although the barriers to writing and publishing have come down drastically, it has become harder and harder to write anything of substance. I speak from experience. The pings and the dings never stop coming. So if you’re someone who needs to focus — on writing, ideas, or even on getting things done — don’t just shut the door to your room but also shut the door on social media and other distractions that come on the internet.

Nir Eyal, an expert on behavioural design and consumer psychology, who I interviewed a few months ago, had the most succinct antidote to this: become indistractable. How does one do that? Eyal recommends that we control internal triggers — that is, events that originate from within ourselves that trigger distractions. Making time for traction — that is, not only make a to-do list but mark time in your calendar to accomplish those tasks. Hacking external triggers back — in other words, shut the door both to your room and also on your internet-connected devices (notifications, pings, and dings)

Taken together, this makes for a good start. And with practice, you too can shut the door and write, read, or create more.