Procrastination: A Writer's Poison
by Kym Farris
Procrastination is such a simple word so why does it scare me? Well because I am guilty of this. Whether it be household chores, homework, or work in general I am the poster child for procrastination.
It wasn’t always like this; there was a time when I would get stuff done before the required time. Of course, I can’t tell you when that was because like procrastination I have select amnesia. Haha.
One of my biggest issues is thinking I know more than I do. On Mondays, I get my school assignments. And my brain says “I know a little about this so I can do this tomorrow”. And then all of a sudden it’s Friday and guess what? I haven’t done anything. Which now leads to anxiety and 2 sleepless nights. 2 nights because my assignments are due on Sunday. But wait because of having to cram for this assignment now all my weekend stuff gets put on hold. And then Monday rolls around again. It’s a cycle I have to break out of but how?
Since this is an important topic I wanted to go deeper with it. I found a few things that I am going to try and hope you will too.
- Self Motivation. Talk yourself up! Sounds cliché but it works. I recently went to my local dollar store. There they have little wooden signs of encouragement. I have one in my bathroom right now that says “ you did not wake up to be mediocre”. I read it the other day and said “ No I did not”. Right out of the blue and it came with a smile. Something I don’t normally do. Smile, I mean. That little sign brought out so much emotion.
- You don’t need to be perfect. Start writing. Just go. You can add and delete stuff once you're done. Start with a rough draft on Monday. And then every day after that choose how you want to revamp it. Tuesday can be adding resources. Wednesday can be adding new material and so on. Remember your writing is a reflection of you.
- Don’t rush. Seems crazy that I am telling you not to rush while writing about procrastination right? What I mean by this is try breaking your day down. Get a daily planner. Block off a few hours each week or an hour a day to just write. You’ll be amazed at how much work you can get done when you plan it accordingly. I put some links for daily planners at the bottom of this blog.
- Reward yourself. This is my favorite and something I do now. I love Chocolate Cupcakes. I am obsessed with them, to be honest. I don’t bake them as that would take the time I don’t have. So on Sundays, I go to the supermarket and I get a pack of 6 of them. Of course, 6 doesn't last long but it gets the job done. I tell myself you can have one when you finish. And to make it worse I put them in front of me when I’m working. It doesn’t seem like a lot. I mean they're cupcakes. Yet, after writing and wracking my brain that cupcake is the best thing in the world. And I earned it.
Books on Procrastination
Daily planners
That’s all of it! If you have other services you’d recommend, be sure to let us know in the comments. And while you’re here - subscribe to our mailing list, so you don’t miss any ghostwriting tips and best practices that we’ll be sharing here each week.