Image by Jean Browman via Flickr
Procrastination uses different disguises.
Sometimes, procrastination disguises itself as responsibility. It whispers, “You can’t write now. You have a demanding, full-time job.” Or “You have to take care of your family.”
Sometimes, procrastination disguises itself as self-care. It says, “You can’t write now. You should watch TV and escape from that stressful job, for a while.”
Sometimes, procrastination will remind you of your struggles. It states, “You can’t write now. You’re going through a divorce.” Or, “You can’t write now. You’re sick.”
There’s no such thing as the perfect time to write. There will always be something (or even someone) that limits your time to write.
It’s time to stop waiting to write. It’s tempting to wait. But it’s time to stop waiting.
History is filled with examples of people writing during overwhelming hardships and persecution.
Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote what became known as the Letter from Birmingham Jail. King wrote the letter in April 1963 after he, and other protest marchers, were arrested in Birmingham, Alabama. King sat in jail and wrote the letter as a response to criticism about using nonviolent resistance strategies, including marches, to speak out against racism.
During the early 1940’s, Anne Frank kept a diary while she and her family were in hiding for two years during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands.
There is one, of many, lessons to learn from these two examples.
Sometimes, the issues that block you from writing are the issues you should write about.
So, how do you stop procrastinating?
Here are four ways to stop procrastinating:
- Set a time to write. As I’ve said before, you can’t wait until you “feel” like writing. You need to make time in your weekly schedule for writing. A good example to start with is writing 30 minutes during most days of the week.
- Don’t know what to write about? Great! Write whatever comes to mind. Pick out one or two of the strongest ideas or topics that come out during a short writing session.
- Develop the ideas. What’s the best way to present these ideas? Should they be your next blog post? Should these ideas be a guest post on someone else’s blog? Can they be used for a magazine article for an online/print publication? Do you have an eBook idea? Is this a non-fiction book? A novel?
- Plan more time to write that great blog post/magazine article/book. Break up this project into small pieces. You don’t have to write a short blog post in one sitting. And you probably shouldn’t write any piece in just one sitting. Even a short blog post usually starts as a rough draft, followed by another writing session when that draft is reviewed and edited before being published.
You can write while taking care of yourself and your family. You can even write while facing life’s struggles.
Just don’t let procrastination tell you anything different.
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Did this post inspire and help you? How do you stop procrastinating? Share your thoughts and tips with other writers in the comments section.
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