procrastination

Getting Your Ducks in a Row: Organization or Procrastination?

Published on by Kristi Holl

Some time ago one of Suzanne Lieurance’s email “Morning Nudges” hit me between the eyes, and I printed it out as a reminder.

I see this week that I need the same nudge again.

Maybe you do too.

Ducks on Parade

“People will tell you that before you start on any new venture it’s a good idea to get all your ducks in a row,” Suzanne said. “And that is good advice. However, have you ever known people who spend ALL their time getting their ducks in a row? Heck, they spend so much time doing this, they end up getting OTHER people’s ducks in a row, too. It’s as if they feel they’ll never be ready to start something new, something really BIG, something wonderful! They need to spend just a bit more time getting those ducks in a row, and THEN they’ll be ready. Yet, that time just never seems to come.”

Does that describe you? Sometimes it describes me.

Ducks Out of Control

Like these past months…I met two nonfiction book deadlines, finished a novel rough draft, taught a workshop, and did several critiques. Now I’m facing a massive revision of a novel that grew all out of proportion. I hardly know where to start. So in order to clear the decks for some serious writing, I decided to take a week to get all my miscellaneous ducks in a row.

I had a marketing duck, a website update duck, a critique duck, a newsletter, and a research duck. (I also had several grandchild visits–very cute ducklings.) The writing ducks popped out of line repeatedly, but after fifty hours I got them lined up.

And now I’m facing next Monday with no excuses. The ducks are in a row. There is time to write. Now what? I find myself noticing other little ducks  swimming out of line. (e.g. I really should clean my office first because I work much better in a clean office. I really should go to the gym for my stiff back and the eye doctor for new computer glasses. I really should visit the scene of my novel again and take better photos. So many ducks–so little time!)

The Procrastination Duck

I’m sure you know where I’m going with this. Yes, it’s important to get your ducks in a row. You don’t want to dive into a project half prepared. You waste precious time that way–and turn out shoddy writing.

But when does organizing cross the line into procrastination? There’s a point where we’re just putting off the inevitable–that blank page or revision that panics us. Only you can tell for yourself. What signs let you know that you’re crossing the line–and it’s time to bite the bullet?

Quack, Quack!

Before we can sit down and write, we all have certain ducks we need to have lined up. For some, it’s a super clean desk. For others, it’s doing the dishes and starting the laundry. For still others, it’s certain rituals that need to be in place.

At what point, though, do you tell yourself that “enough is enough”? I’d love to hear what works for you!

Five Stages of Procrastination

Published on by Kristi Holl

How is procrastination like a bridge you set on fire yourself? According to Neil Fiore in The Now Habit, it’s similar to a situation where we scare ourselves into being frozen.

Fiore says to imagine a very long flat board on the ground in front of you, and then imagine walking on it to the other end of the board. Piece of cake, right?

Then he says imagine raising that board 100 feet off the ground, reaching from one tall building to another. Imagine walking across it again. You don’t skip light-heartedly across now, do you? You worry about falling to your death–and you don’t even take one step.

Then, in the third scenario, he says to imagine you smell smoke and feel heat on your back. You turn, and the building you stand on is in flames. You’ll die if you don’t get moving. What do you do now? Without even thinking, you get across that board. You might crawl, you might sit down and scooch across, but you get across to avoid being burned to a crisp.

That’s procrastination in a nutshell. Here’s how:

Five Predictable Stages

  1. You let a task determine your self-worth. You think being successful at this writing task or goal will make you happy. You think your self-worth as a writer is wrapped up in this project.
  2. You use perfectionism to raise the task 100 feet above the ground–like the imaginary board above. “You demand that you do it perfectly–without anxiety, with complete acceptance from your audience, with no criticism,” says Fiore.
  3. You find yourself frozen with anxiety. Your imaginary difficulties with the project raise your stress level. Adrenaline kicks in. You seek temporary relief.
  4. You use procrastination to escape your self-created dilemma. This brings the deadline closer and creates more pressure. You delay starting so long that you can’t really be tested on your actual writing ability (what you are capable of if you’d started sooner).
  5. You use a real threat to jar you loose from the perfectionism and motivate yourself to begin. The deadline, fast approaching, acts as the fire in the building in the opening example. It forces you to get moving and actually begin the writing.

 Breaking the Cycle

The author of this terrific book then takes you back to the top of that building and asks you to imagine still being frozen as you face walking across that board. Then he says to imagine NO fire, but instead a strong, supportive net just three feet beneath the board. It stretches all the way to the other building. There is no danger.

How do you create such a writing safety net? His suggestions in the remainder of the book show you how. Stay tuned for some ideas that work!

The Vicious Procrastination Cycle

Published on by Kristi Holl

Because I have a tight deadline, and I also need to go to bed early for a race I’m running in the morning, I am going to re-run a popular article from a few years ago on the procrastination cycle. It will bear repeating!

******************************

There’s more to dealing with procrastination than snarling at yourself to “just do it!” I know because I’ve been snarling that line at myself for ten days. Today I feel like snarling at everybody else too! I’m caught in the procrastination trap and trying to get out.

I read something helpful about it last night. Did you know procrastination is a cycle with predictable stages? It isn’t just one feeling with one cause. That’s the bad news. I think the good news is that you can interrupt that cycle. The “how-to” depends on what part of the cycle you’re in.

Stages of Procrastination

The vicious cycle of putting things off goes like this:

  • starts with feeling overwhelmed
  • pressure mounts
  • we fear failing at whatever we’re putting off
  • we buckle down and try harder
  • we work longer hours
  • we feel resentful
  • we get tired and lose motivation
  • and then we procrastinate

Wow! I always thought the “buckle down and try harder and work longer hours” part was good! It’s how I’ve survived all these years. I certainly never considered it part of a procrastination habit or cycle.

But the cycle rings true for me–and is really giving me something to think about. “The cycle starts with the pressure of being overwhelmed and ends with an attempt to escape through procrastination,” says Neil Fiore, Ph.D. in The Now Habit: A Strategic Program for Overcoming Procrastination and Enjoying Guilt-Free Play. “As long as you’re caught in the cycle, there is no escape.”

Warning Signs of Procrastination

“But I don’t procrastinate,” you may say. Maybe. Maybe not. As I read through the list of thirty-five symptoms in the book, I realized with great shock that I responded yes to about three-fourths of the questions! (It was a shock because for thirty years, people have told me what a hard worker I was, how organized I was, etc.) But I had not considered these behaviors as symptoms of procrastination.

Things like…

  • Do you keep an impossibly long “to do” list?
  • Do you talk to yourself in “shoulds”?
  • Are you often late arriving at meetings and dinners?
  • Do you have difficulty knowing what you really WANT for yourself, but are clear about what you SHOULD want?
  • Do you find that you’re never satisfied with what you accomplish?
  • Do you feel deprived–always working or feeling guilty about not working?
  • Do you demand perfection even on low-priority work?
  • Do you feel ineffective in controlling your life?

In my book More Writer’s First Aid, I maintained that you can’t find a solution to a writing problem until you’ve correctly identified the problem, and then the root cause. If someone had told me that I was a procrastinator, I would have laughed until recently. But I have to admit that the questions hit home, and I definitely recognize that cycle of feelings! Could it be that the burn-out I’ve felt this year comes from a life lived in the procrastination cycle?

I’ll be exploring the ideas for correcting this habit in coming weeks. The idea of not living in that cycle of pressure puts a little spring in my step today!

Three Reasons Your Writing Life Isn't Working–and What To Do

Published on by Kristi Holl
What's the problem?

What’s wrong with me? you wonder. Why doesn’t this writing advice work?

A third worrisome thought nibbles at the back of your brain: Maybe I’m not a writer after all. 

Not to worry.

I’ve identified three of the most common reasons why writers don’t get their writing done. And I’ve put together an overall solution for you.

Reason #1: No Overall Strategy

You dream of being a novelist. You’ve taken a writing course. You read writing blogs.

And you write. Daily!

But you’re no closer to writing that novel than you were a year ago. Why?

It’s true that you write every day, using exercises and prompts. And you faithfully journal.

But there’s no overall plan or strategy for writing the novel, no measurable goals and sub-goals.

Reason #2: Forcing Square Pegs into Round Holes

Maybe you diligently follow writing advice found in magazines or tips you hear from published writers.

You set your alarm to write at 5 a.m. but fall asleep on your keyboard because you’re a night owl.

You join a weekly critique group, but their need to socialize irritates you because you came there to work.

You set up your laptop to work in a coffee shop with a writing friend. She gets to work and churns out ten pages! You can’t focus, even with ear plugs in.

The problem? You don’t match writing advice to your personality.

Reason #3: Writing Habits That Don’t Help

You have less than two hours of time alone while your child is in preschool. You use that time to do a low-energy job instead of writing on your novel (a high energy job).

You’re on a roll, half way to making your writing quota for the day. Your sister calls. You could let the answering machine or voice mail get it…but you answer instead. When she asks, “Are you busy?” you say, “Not really.”

You have alerts turned on so when you’re on the computer or near your phone, you hear beeps and buzzes every five minutes. New email! A new text! A new “have to see this” YouTube video!

The problem? Sometimes we develop writing habits that are detrimental to our ability to concentrate and thus to our productivity.

Help is Here for Your Writing Life: Free E-Book

As I said above, I’ve put together an e-book dealing with these very issues.

It’s called “Rx for Writers: Managing Your Writing Space and Your Writing Time.”

I’ll be giving it away this Friday as a kick-off to some changes that are coming.

See you back here on Friday. And if you know any writers with these issues, please pass the word. I’d love to have them check in here on Friday for their free e-book.

Weakened Mind Anxiety: the Cure (Part 3)

Published on by Kristi Holl

First we talked about the anxiety stirred up when it’s time to start a writing project. Then we talked about four causes of this “weakened mind anxiety,” a term coined by Eric Maisel in Fearless Creating.

The next obvious question is: what do we do about it?

As it turns out, we do many things in order to make ourselves create. Some are appropriate and helpful. Others, however, are not. Let’s mention those first.

Unhelpful Responses

Things we do that get us writing, but do NOT help in the long run, may include:

  • Beat yourself into submission with “shoulds.” Call yourself names and force yourself into your office.
  • Find fortitude (or relaxation) in heavy doses of chocolate, caffeine, or other drugs to dampen the anxiety enough to work.
  • Narrowly focus on something do-able, perhaps something you’ve done before that can be “tweaked” or modified, instead of creating something new.
  • Rationalizing an interest in shallow commercial work that seems to sell better in today’s culture instead of producing what is true and deep and sincere.

I think we’d all agree that those solutions are temporary, at best. You also rarely enjoy the writing process when you choose such a “getting started” method.

Helpful Solutions for Writing Anxiety

There are 22 techniques in Mastering Creative Anxiety (Maisel), but I will only list a handful of things you can try. If anxiety over getting started is a big problem for you, I’d recommend getting both of his books. The sample solutions I list may not apply to your particular problem.

1. It’s here to stay.

“Embrace the idea that sitting there and doing the actual work of creating provokes anxiety. Accept it.” (Mastering Creative Anxiety) This may sound like bad news, but it was rather a relief to me. I could stop thinking there was something wrong with me for feeling anxious. “Do not hope for the process to be different,” Maisel says. Instead, learn anxiety-management tools. In other words, the feeling won’t kill us–we can learn tools to overcome it and write anyway.

2. Power Thoughts

Physical relaxation coupled with power thougths can drastically lower your anxiety level and help you slip right into writing. (Don’t discount this till you try it. My first reaction was, “Oh this is hokey.” But after it worked for me, I was impressed!) First, learn to breathe deeply, five counts when breathing in and five counts when breathing out. Then write out some power thoughts to contradict the neagative thoughts you’ve been telling yourself. Say the first half of the sentence to yourself when breathing in, and the second half when beathing out.

Sentences like this along with the slow, deep breathing can work wonders:

  • (I am equal) (to this challenge.)
  • (I am called) (to write.)
  • (I can do) (hard things.)
  • (Anxiety can’t) (hurt me.)
  • (I write) (with ease.)

Begin using these daily as part of your anxiety-management program.

3. Get Physical!

Discharge your built-up anxiety with physical activity. Stretch, run around the block, or jog in place. (Of if you have a treadmill desk like mine, rev it up faster for a few minutes.) Don’t sit and brood and grow more anxious.

4. Develop an “artist’s discipline.”

Do you want to develop discipline as a writer? Understand that an artist’s discipline is a different kind of discipline. We think of discipline like doing an exercise program daily or disciplining ourselves to show up for our day job on time. However, for a writer “there is only one discipline, the discipline of creating regularly even while anxious,” says Maisel. Learn the tools!

So…Where’s the Hitch?

Can you master creative anxiety instead of it mastering you? Maisel says yes–but there’s a condition.

“Anxiety mastery requires that you actually do the work of managing and reducing your anxiety. It is not enough to have a refined sense of why and when you become anxious: you must then do something.”

Because I don’t want to plagiarize his books, I won’t list more of Maisel’s solutions. But they include lifestyle changes, behavioral changes, changing the way you think, various relaxation and guided imagery techniques, “detachment” training and identifying those things that trigger writer’s anxiety in you.

As Anna Held Audette said,

“There are probably as many ways to get started as there are ways of chasing the blues. Use anything that works even if it seems ridiculous or not what an artist does.”

If getting started writing troubles you to a significant degree, take steps to change as much of the anxiety as you can. Yes, a certain amount appears to be inherent in the writing process, but it’s up to us if we let it cripple us–or if we choose to use it as a springboard for writing growth.

Weakened Mind Anxiety (Part 2)

Published on by Kristi Holl

Last week we talked about “weakened mind anxiety” and what that feels like.

Symptoms that rear their ugly heads just before you try to write include fatigue, foggy brain, depression and an urge to cry/sleep/watch TV/surf the ‘Net. (from Fearless Creating by Eric Maisel)

What’s the Problem?

Before we talk about solutions, I think it would be helpful to explore why we experience so much anxiety when trying to do creative work. For me, at least, understanding is half the battle.

Mastering Creative Anxiety (another book by Eric Maisel) talks about various reasons this occurs. One or more (or all of them!) may apply to you. As with most ailments, different causes require different solutions.

1. Desire for Excellence

We love books. We love to read. We have stories we’ve treasured since childhood. We have high standards when it comes to what we like to read.

We doubt the quality of our work as we measure it against these high standards and strive to make our work excellent. We know the quality of writing we dream of producing. The gap between our desire and what we actually write causes high anxiety.

2. Negative Self-Talk

Our thoughts dictate, to a large degree, what our anxiety level is on any given day. Think thoughts like “I’ll always be mediocre” or “I’ll never sell another book” or “I have no idea what I’m doing,” and you’ll procrastinate into a major writing block.

Thoughts like this are not just “unhelpful.” They are damaging to a huge degree, pulling us further down in a black hole.

3. The Creative Process Itself

I had never thought of this, but Maisel is so right when he talks about the creative process being exactly the opposite of how we spend the rest of our days, so it goes against the grain.

As he points out, our entire days are spent trying to avoid mistakes and “get it right.” You get up at the right time, you eat the right foods (or try to), drive on the right side of the road, use your computer correctly so it doesn’t malfunction, etc. Your whole day and mind are aimed at not making mistakes and avoiding unnecessary risks. Maisel points out:

“Then, somehow, you must shift from that way of being and thinking to a radically different state, one in which mistakes and messes are not only possible and probable but downright guaranteed. Of course that makes you anxious!”

4. Procrastinating

Procrastination produces anxiety. We feel immobilized and trapped by our own resistance. It erodes our self-image.

Whatever caused us initially to block only grows with procrastination. It is, says Maisel,

“a classic vicious cycle, in which our new anxiety prevents us from dealing with whatever provoked our initial anxiety and caused us to procrastinate.”

The Good News

Now that we’ve defined and described weakened mind anxiety, and we’ve considered the main causes, we’ll be ready next week to discuss the anxiety-management skills that can defeat it!

Pacifiers or Catalysts: Your Choice

Published on by Kristi Holl

I’ve noticed one amazing thing about myself and other writers who claim to want to write more than anything else. Something odd takes over, and we fill the free time of our lives with all kinds of non-writing activities. We reach for things that make us feel good, that quell any anxiety we might be feeling, or at least keep us occupied.

What fills our lives–what quells our anxiety–can be either positive or negative. The activity we choose can be either a pacifier or a catalyst.

What’s the Outcome?

Activities that fall under the heading of “pacifiers” are things like mindless TV viewing, complaining about the sad state of publishing to all your writing friends, eating mass amounts of comfort food, surfing the Net, playing video games, or shopping till you drop.

Nothing good (for your writing career) comes from any of those activities. They serve simply as pacifiers, something to make the whining, fretful baby in us be quiet. But are we then any closer to our writing goals? No, not at all. We’ve simply passed some time–writing time that we can’t get back.

Positive Time Fillers

What if you’re tired of your non-writing rut, but you can’t seem to crawl out of it either? What can you fill your free time with instead of a pacifier activity? Why not try a catalyst instead? A catalyst is a springboard for change, something that nudges you in a better direction. The next time you feel anxious about your writing and you want to fill your time with something to soothe the fear, why not try a positive change agent?

Activities that fall into the catalyst category might include:

  • watching an inspiring movie about an “overcomer”
  • spending time with a writing mentor or coach
  • reading an inspirational book or self-help writing book
  • listening to motivational tapes
  • reading a biography or watching a documentary about someone you admire (especially another writer)
  • reading a current copy of The Writer or Writer’s Digest
  • attending a writing conference, retreat or workshop

Think Ahead–Then Choose

We all feel anxious sometimes to the point of being stuck. That’s okay. Just be aware that there are activities that only pacify the fear (and waste your time)–but there are also enjoyable activities that can act as catalysts to get you writing. Choose the activity that is going to propel you forward, not help you stagnate even further.

We all have our favorite catalysts. Mine include reading inspirational writing books or writing articles I’ve saved over the years, Skyping with another author about writing issues, or watching a movie about authors (like Becoming Jane, Cross Creek, Finding Forrester, Finding Neverland, or Miss Potter).

What is your favorite pacifier–and what’s the effect on your writing? On the positive side, what is your most helpful catalyst and its effect on your writing? Please share some ideas that work best for you.

Procrastination Tip: Jump In!

Published on by Kristi Holl

People often tell me that I’m very productive, so it was a shock recently to take a procrastination test and come out in the top 10% of procrastinators!

It said I scored 80 out of 100 possible points and “when it comes to putting things off, you often do so even though you know you shouldn’t… Though you are likely incredibly productive just before a deadline, you might not get all your work done and there is a lot of unwanted stress.”

Procrastination: Who, Me?

I wanted to mutter “stupid test,” but I was aware that certain bad writing habits (dare I call it procrastination?) were affecting the quality of my work. Oh, I got the writing done, but too often lately the quality was less than it could be because I delayed starting. I was submitting writing that was less than my best because it was hurried.

I think I had deluded myself into thinking there was no problem because I was busy all the time. I am never late with the educational writing, and usually early. I am never late for my M-W-F blogs or paid critiques. I don’t even procrastinate on writing nonfiction books. Just fiction. Just the “pulling words out of thin air and making up people and whole worlds” kind of writing.

Check Yourself Out

Why is getting started so hard? In a magazine article on procrastination  in Children’s Writer, the following quote struck me as true–of me, anyway:

“In many cases, we procrastinate because we are anxious about the work at hand. It seems too difficult or onerous. ‘The hardest part of any task is the first five minutes. It’s like cold water. It’s just getting in that’s the hard part. Once you’re in, the water feels great,’ says Steel [a university professor who studies procrastination]. ‘Usually after procrastinating, once people finally get around to the task, they say, ‘I don’t know why I thought this would be so much worse than it was.'”

That struck me as true, so this week I’ve been starting my NaNoWriMo writing by setting a timer for just five minutes. Then I write furiously for five minutes, with permission to quit if I hate it at the end of five minutes. Have I stopped yet when the timer went off? No. I’m on a roll by then, and it wasn’t nearly as hard as I’d made it in my mind.

Why do we do this to ourselves over and over? It feels silly to have to “trick” my muse with a kitchen timer. But hey, it works, so I’ll probably keep doing it until I find something that works better!

What about you? What tricks do YOU use to get started?

Procrastination: Make It a Movie

Published on by Kristi Holl

Procrastination: the Movie? Yes…making a movie is one way to overcome the temptation to procrastinate and build good writing habits, day by day.

Yesterday, on the first day of NaNoWriMo, I had such good intentions. But my novel idea looked overwhelming to me (and rather stupid, I must also admit). I dinked around, trying to get started, until 3 p.m.!!! Major procrastination. I got a few other things done, but mostly I wasted precious writing time. I only got 635 words written, way short of the daily 1,667 words needed to meet the 50,000 word goal in November.

Then I remembered an old trick I once used to break other bad habits and decided to use it this morning to cure the procrastination temptation. (This works for all kinds of procrastination, from avoiding exercise to avoiding the keyboard.)

Make a Movie!

Being tempted to do any of the things we do to avoid writing (watch a movie, eat sweets, play on the Internet) deals with avoidance and some kind of instant gratification. We want to feel better about our procrastination and time wasting. When you “make a movie,” you move beyond the instant “feel good” aspect of your contemplated activity–and play the movie out to the end.

You don’t concentrate on how good you’ll feel if you stop and watch TV and eat half a gallon of ice cream. You play out the whole scenario. An hour or two later, how will you feel? After you waste the whole day, how will you feel? What will it cost you today, in terms of productivity and lost self-esteem? What will it mean in the long run if you do this all the time? (No career? Death from some obesity-related disease? No self-respect?)

Borrow This Template

When faced with a procrastination temptation, turn to this questionnaire (below) which I keep in a document template on my computer. I filled it out in detail this morning before writing almost 2,000 words (yippee!), and after I blog, I will probably fill out the questions again because “afternoon slump” is starting to set in. Feel free to copy this questionnaire to use. It’s a great technique for helping you look past the instant fun of procrastinating to what you can accomplish if you take the long view. Here’s the form to fill out:

Pause when facing any kind of temptation to procrastinate (by eating unhealthy food, or watching TV, or surfing the ‘Net, etc.) and fill in these answers in writing:

  • I consistently struggle with the following bad habit:
  • When I play the tape through to the logical conclusion, the end result of this habit makes me feel:
  • and does the following to my self-respect:
  • typically produces the following results in me:
  • If left unchecked, the behavior will probably lead to the following long-term consequences:

 ON THE OTHER HAND…

  •  If I play the other healthy tape all the way through to its logical conclusion and choose NOT to give in to my bad habit, I feel:
  •  and my self-respect is:
  •  typically produces the following results in me:
  • If I keep away from this bad habit, I will benefit from the following long-term results:

Whatever temptation you’re facing right now, take a few minutes and make a movie. Follow your intended actions to their long-term consequences. Is it the life you want? If not, make another movie. In this movie, you resist temptation and make the right choices–consistently. Take time to linger over the final credits of this movie. If you want, it could be your life!