Make procrastination work for you.
"Tomorrow (noun)-- A mystical land where 99% of all human productivity, motivation, and achievement is stored”
Procrastination is the bane of every writer’s life. It is the evil voice of distraction that leaves you becoming the master of Minecraft and suddenly finding that pile of ironing that has been sat there since last Christmas deadly urgent. You never hear people complain about not having enough time to watch TV, play video games, have naps, or eat junk food! The urge to procrastinate is as strong as a gale force wind and can be twice as destructive.
But, how do we fight such a strong urge?
Simple, we don’t fight procrastination; we embrace it.
Yes, you read that right. We have all had the experience of wanting to get a project done but putting it off for later. Sometimes we wait because we just don’t care enough about the project, but other times we care a lot – and still end up doing pretty much anything else.
So why do we procrastinate?
Like most writers, I am an inveterate procrastinator, a high-ranking member of the procrastinating royal family. In the course of writing this one blog I have checked my e-mail approximately 13,000 times, made and discarded multiple shopping lists, conducted a lengthy Facebook battle with a flat earther (pointless), written messages to people I haven’t seen in at least a decade, created a paper mache table lamp, and googled the reason why Dublin is the same as Blackpool – yup, its a thing!
Of course, many people procrastinate, but for us writers it seems to be a peculiarly common occupational hazard. We often say we perform better under pressure, but more often than not, that is just a way of justifying putting things off.
Procrastination has several faces and different sources. Finding the source of your procrastinating tendencies is a massive step to help overcome the constant temptation to be doing anything other than writing.
Are you feeling overwhelmed by the task? The steps outlined in my book, 20 Steps to Free Your Inner Book should help you break down your book into manageable chunks that are less overwhelming.
Are you writing because you think you should, rather than because you want to? I think you already know the answer to this one. Unless you are doing work assigned to you by an editor or a teacher you should never write unless it is something you want to write about. As such, if you don’t love what you are about to write, you will never finish writing it. Find something else to do!
Are you paralyzed by the prospect of writing something that isn’t very good? Ah, I think this is the proverbial nail whose head we are hitting. The fear of being unmasked as the incompetent you 'really' are is so common that it actually has a name: impostor syndrome.
It is psychologically more acceptable to never tackle a task than to face the possibility of failing at it.
At the end of the day, it all starts with a simple choice between working now on a given project and doing anything else - working on a different project, doing something fun or doing nothing at all.
Psychologists know that a person’s decision to work on something is driven by how much value they place upon accomplishing the project in that moment. Procrastination, in psychological terms, is what happens when the value of doing something else outweighs the value of what you should be doing.
This suggests that we can develop tricks to defeat procrastination: find a way to boost the value of working now on the project we need to work on, relative to the value of other things. For example, instead of cleaning my house, I might try to focus on why finishing this book is personally important to me. Alternatively, I could think about how unpleasant cleaning can actually be – especially when sharing a house with two 7 year olds.
Its simple advice, but sticking to it can be quite difficult, especially for us writers, mainly because there are so many forces that lesson the value of working in the present.
No work is ‘effortless’ and so a writing project can be devalued not only because the “rewards” happen so far in the future, but also by the simple fact that good writing takes effort – a lot more effort than running a hoover around the house or doing the washing up - even if you do promise yourself rewards for getting work done. “When I hit 5,000 words, I’m going to the movies,” or even, “When I finish this paragraph, I can have another cup of coffee.”
So let’s rename this rose…
Boiling all the science talk down, the reality is, procrastinating is a choice and what all human beings really do, in their every waking moment, is make choices after choices.
Every minute of every day, you are making choices about what you will do, based on what matters most to you. You are not procrastinating. You are choosing.
Today, or this month or this year, you may be choosing not to write anything. Yes, maybe today you really were dying to write but you had to take the kids to swimming club. Maybe next week the relatives are in town.
Nevertheless, over the course of a month, a year, a decade, you ultimately make time for the things you want to do.
So what can we writers do?
Simply, we can admit defeat! So many authors are procrastinators that it is probably now a prerequisite. The secret is to accept it and, in fact, schedule it – choose it without guilt or guile.
I set my timer for an hour and a half. Write. Then set another timer for twenty minutes and disappear into Facebook or YouTube. Set the timer again for an hour and a half – write again, set another timer for twenty minutes and see if there were any new pictures of crochet dragons on Instagram – you get the point.
You know you better than I do. I find an hour and a half is the perfect span of time for me. Any longer is too long and any less isn’t really enough time to sink my teeth into my work, but do what feels comfortable for you.
If you are in the zone and cruising, forget the timers and just keep going. It’s a rare but beautiful thing. However, when it’s not necessarily going great the next day – start with the timers again.
I also set timers for mealtimes and school runs. I cannot be trusted at all. I know this about myself.
I stopped worrying about my amazing abilities of procrastination when I realized it was inevitable and predictable, and surprisingly, it can also be productive. While you are putting off the writing, your subconscious is still working on it. Procrastination is a part of the process. When you do start writing again, you will enjoy the revelations your subconscious divulges to you.
Procrastination done with purpose puts you in control. You determine when a project, from housework to writing, earns your attention.
Choosing procrastination gives you the power to prioritize. With the patience and focus of a Zen Master, you will be able to see through the maze of personal deadlines, daily demands and full life restores on Candy Crush Saga. You will glide through your day picking off the low-hanging fruit of your workload and still catching up on the adventures of Grumpy Cat on YouTube. You have found the sweet spot.
Ooh that feels good doesn’t it?
You have now flipped the table. You have just made procrastination your b**ch.
For more head over to Amazon and get my new book "Free Your Inner Book in 20 Simple Steps: A Comprehensive Guide to help you stop thinking about writing it and just do it already!" on Kindle or paperback.