I wrote recently about planning and avoiding distractions, here, but it is not the only hurdle to overcome when we are trying to put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard).
Having got past one hurdle, we might come across another one that many of us have faced in the past, which is procrastination. Despite recognising ways to tackle procrastination, our internal critic will still throw this particular obstacle in our path on a regular basis, as if to see what we will do about it. Usually, our first response is to go off and tackle endless other tasks rather than the one we are trying to avoid.
Once we are done with that, and none of the productivity tips we have read are working, the next question is what we might do or think about or question to get going. Given that what we have been doing up to this point has been focused on action, it might be time to switch to what we believe and or what we are thinking around getting started with the task.
Some possible questions we might ask of ourselves are as follows:
- What are we afraid of?
- What would happen if we wrote a first draft just to see what that might look like?
- Do we have beliefs about the judgement of others that might be getting in the way?
- What would happen if we only wrote the first part, and left the rest to later?
- Would it be useful to write an outline?
- Are there other things that have happened in our past that might be getting in the way of completing this particular task?
- If we have examined all of these issues, and we are no further forward, might we need help from others to get going?
It is my belief that if we are asking these questions of ourselves, and if we do so by Journalling or Freewriting, then hopefully the answers will appear before our eyes, or we will become so bored about writing about why we are not doing the task, that we find some other solution and just get the bones down (as Natalie Goldberg said).
Hopefully, going through this process helps, but either way, we should treat ourselves with compassion, and remember that procrastination is something that we all suffer from sometimes.
If you have any other procrastination-busting tips, please share in the comments.
Fraser
October 2024