I wasn’t going to open with a personal story, but what the hell. If I try hard enough, eventually I’ll be able to relate everything in my life to my own personal philosphies about writing.
About four months ago, I saw a shrink. Sorry…mental health professional. Yeah ^_^. I saw her twice and never went back for two basic reasons. First, The third week I was supposed to visit coincided with my first emergency trip to Nashville for work, so I had to cancel. If you’ve never heard me say it, I don’t miss that job at all. The second reason was I’m not big on all-encompassing textbook solutions to all my problems.
As an example:
Me: I have a hard time motivating myself to complete tasks I know need to be done.
Her: You need to bribe yourself with a reward.
Me: Seriously? Because I’m ten? (Actually I just kind of gave her a confused look, but close enough).
Her: Sure. Tell yourself if you get a certain amount of something accomplished, you can spend 5-15 minutes doing something you enjoy as a break. If you finish an assignment at work, go read for fifteen minutes and then go back to it.
Honestly, not bad advice. Not advice I’ve been able to implement yet…in any aspect of my life…but still not bad.
I thought of this today because I’m supposed to be writing. Given my 8-5 M-F work schedule, you might think I’m supposed to be working. I do a lot of waiting for things to procses at work, and while I wait, I try and write. This morning, though, as with the last two weeks, I’ve found infinite ways to avoid accomplishing anything.
“I’ll just check my e-mail real quick and get right to it. And then my other e-mail. And then my Facebook. And then I haven’t blogged yet this morning. On either blog. Oh, it’s been five minutes since I checked my e-mail…time to check it again, just in case.” Rinse, repeat.
Someday maybe I’ll share the story of when my brother first introduced me to the concept of weblog (blog for short ;-)). But only if I figure out how to make the story interesting.
So…I know I’m not the only one who uses online as an excuse to procrastinate. Any hints for actually buckling down and doing the work?
I’m the master procrastinator. Give me a project and my house will be super-clean while I avoid working on it. It is hard to force yourself to write sometimes, but I always find having a deadline helps. As soon as I have some pressure to finish, I can finish. So if you need to, create a deadline, or ask someone else to. Then you’ll get the fire needed to get moving on the project. Maybe….
Getting off the computer (read: turning it off) is the only way I can get around anything.
Right now I’m trying to decide where I’m going to study for class. I like doing it on my desk, but the computer is there. It’s my shiny. But I’m uncomfortable anywhere else.
Then again, I might just nap. Not feeling so hot today.
…then again, I’m running out of time for that, too.
🙁
anyway, i feel you. and i know typing is better than handwriting (my hand cramps up something fierce after about five minutes), but it’s the only way to keep me focused for the most part.
@Kate There’s a Douglas Adams quote…I think it’s on my wdc billboard. “I love deadlines. I love the sound they make as they go whooshing past.”
That’s me and deadlines. They used to be a huge motivator for me, but it seems these days I’m so used to operating in emergency mode (as in, nothing gets attention until it’s on fire) that all a deadline does is remind me that once it’s over, I still have to get the task done. This is mostly because I’m insane ^_^
I haven’t tried it for my writing yet, though. I know it usually works for contest entries so it’s probably worth a shot
@Lisa – I know exactly what you mean about having to shut off and handwriting. There are times when I get really desparate and creative and I’ll just grab a notebook and a pen and go out to breakfast alone somewhere. It forces me to find solitude and write. Now that I think about it, I should try that this weekend.