My worst trait as a writer I think is procrastination. That
and always using the “While blah blah blah, this was happening” sentence
structure. That is why I thought this #500 word challenge would be good for me.
Something fun that keeps me on task and maybe something that could help break
my procrastination habit.
That is why on the third---er fourth day---I am writing my
third batch of 500 words.
At least I haven’t given up entirely.
I have read books, attended time management sessions, been
coaxed, prodded, intimidated to try and improve my distain for the deadline–
one editor told me that I expand the work to fill the deadline time, instead of
just sitting down and doing it and having it done early. Another told me that I
strive for perfection when it isn’t needed, and I need to just think “whatever
gets done is good enough.” And one actually gave me a little paperweight for my
desk that reads The ultimate motivation is the deadline. That was years ago and
it still sits on my desk as a gentle but not so effective reminder. One book I
read said you need to figure out WHY you procrastinate in order to fix the
problem. It listed many different types of motivations, and I fit into at least
three of them: ironically, my independent spirit (you’re not the boss of me)
resents “being told” when to get things done, even when it is for my own good.
So I worked on that, telling myself that what I wanted was to make the deadline
and experience that good feeling of being on time. Things are much less chaotic
when you aren’t working on overlapping deadlines. Another was the perfection thing – afraid that what you are
working on is not going to be perfect, so you never finish it. I do try to keep
that in mind when on the day before deadline I think – hey, this would be an
awesome thing to have in this article – but wait, I don’t have time. HATE that.
That theory has helped me let go of huge chunks of copy and interviews instead
of wrangling with it another day or so and trying to make it fit and missing a
deadline. Sometimes, anyway. And of course in this world of texting, facebook
and twitter, the book talked about shutting down those things and giving
yourself x amount of time to just focus on the task. I find that wearing
headphones – even when I am alone - and listening to my favorite music helps me
with this. It anchors me both physically and emotionally. The wire of the
headphones tethers me to my laptop and the music helps me zone out all other
distractions except the words and task on my screen. And if you are working on
something boring, or with a huge amount of text, I have found that breaking it
down into smaller chunks helps – you’re not looking at this large mammoth thing
that needs to be done yesterday – instead you just have 2 or 3 pages to
complete at a time. Easy Peasy. That actually works well for me. Most of the
time.
And then there are days like today, and yesterday, and the day
before, when life just gets so big and noisy and disruptive that I have lost
all focus and even when I “apply my ass to the seat” as Dorothy Parker says…I
still can’t get anything done. And that’s when I remember what the authors of
that procrastinaton book said in their preface: they were writing a book about
procrastination, and they missed their first deadline by four months! They
wrote, we’re not writing a book about procrastination because we don’t
procrastinate, we are writing a book because we do! So here were two women who
are successful – that book is in like its fourth reprint – but still
procrastinators! That means that you can procrastinate and still be successful.
Being a procrastinator does not make you a loser, or a bad person, or a lousy
employee, or a no-good writer. It just makes you human. So on with the
struggle!
