What to do when the Procrastination Bug Bites? – On Writing

What to do when the Procrastination Bug Bites? – On Writing

Ever since I was a little child, I dreamt of being a writer when I grow up. Then I grew up and became a designer instead. It’s not too bad, because what I have done is merge my fondness for writing with the aspect of design in the form of content development. But what I wanted to talk about today is one of the biggest and most important lessons I learnt when I began.

I’ve been a bit of a stuck up…let’s say person for the sake of cordiality. And I have been extremely aware of it. I know I am not someone who gets pleased very easily, especially when it comes to my own work. In lots of ways that adds great value to my work, because I know that only if I approve, will I share it with the client.

But the problem arose, when I got so caught up in the details that I forgot the point in the first place. And most of us, when we begin writing, feel the same way.

• Step One – I want to write. And when I do, it will rock the world!
• Step Two – Maybe I will read a little bit about things and then write (sort of know what is accepted out there so that I know what I am rocking the world against)
• Step Three – Gather thoughts on the matter, make notes, maybe speak to a few people about it, make more notes, observe things keenly…work on all sorts of “research” material
• Step Four – Start Tomorrow.

And then it goes on. I won’t lie: I did the same thing forever. Even while getting this one website up, I spent the most amount of time on the blog section because of the infamous Step four above, and in all fairness, I blame step one.

As writers, we end up putting so much pressure on ourselves with the whole “rock the world” bit that we end up procrastinating over it forever. So golden rule that I keep telling myself: GET IT DONE.

It is that simple, and just that difficult, at the same time. But there are tricks that every writer uses. The simplest and most effective one that I apply is the trick of thirty minutes today: which states that as I sit in front of my laptop this morning today, not tomorrow or any day that follows, ‘I will put aside the urge to check my phone, go to the loo, call a client, check my mail, write a random thought or poem, read something, browse the internet, check Instagram, and basically do anything else for the next thirty minutes and write. If I cannot think of anything to write, I will stare at the screen blankly if I have to, but I will do nothing else’ and voila, the glare on the laptop screen enables me to type in one word after another, and in no time, I have managed to finish a whole lot of writing.

It isn’t rock-the-world perfect, but it is still one step closer to there. First write, then edit, then write some more. At the end of the day, for all my writer friends who are dealing with the same problem as above, just keep in mind this little phrase – Something done, is better than none.

Good luck! And do write back to let me know what you do when the procrastination bug bites you