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I know I'm not the only writer on this board who suffers from procrastination. I open my Word file, type in two or three words and oh look! X updated his blog! Have I checked my mail? Dammit, I haven't watered the pla- oh look! I finally found my old Nightwish CD.
Sounds familiar?
Anway, I used to get seriously annoyed with myself because of this. So I developed a little trick to help me get into focus.
I got myself a timer. I set it to go off in 5 minutes and began writing. For 5 minutes, I did nothing but write and stare at the screen. You'll be surprised at how little time 5 minutes is! So, after the 5 minutes, I set my timer to go off in another 5 minutes. I spent those other 5 minutes procrastinating and doing anything that struck my fancy, or doing the chores I realized I had to do while writing. When that time was over, I wrote for another five minutes.
At first, it may seem like you're wasting more time than what you are actually winning back. But after a few days of this exercise, you can start playing around with the times: 8 minutes of writing for every 4 minutes of procrastination. 20 minutes of writing for every 5 or 10 or even another 20 minutes of procrastination.
The best part about this little trick is that, like I said, 5 minutes isn't really that much. For a restless mind like mine, 5 minutes is about as long as I can concentrate without my mind wandering off too much. And, as you get used to focus only on your WIP (because you know you'll get a chance to fool off in almost no time), you start retaining the capacity to concentrate on it for longer.
Cool, eh? I'm posting this hoping that it will help someone else overcome their procrastination problems If you have any way to combat procrastination (for us folks who can't just BIC and be done with it), share!
Sounds familiar?
Anway, I used to get seriously annoyed with myself because of this. So I developed a little trick to help me get into focus.
I got myself a timer. I set it to go off in 5 minutes and began writing. For 5 minutes, I did nothing but write and stare at the screen. You'll be surprised at how little time 5 minutes is! So, after the 5 minutes, I set my timer to go off in another 5 minutes. I spent those other 5 minutes procrastinating and doing anything that struck my fancy, or doing the chores I realized I had to do while writing. When that time was over, I wrote for another five minutes.
At first, it may seem like you're wasting more time than what you are actually winning back. But after a few days of this exercise, you can start playing around with the times: 8 minutes of writing for every 4 minutes of procrastination. 20 minutes of writing for every 5 or 10 or even another 20 minutes of procrastination.
The best part about this little trick is that, like I said, 5 minutes isn't really that much. For a restless mind like mine, 5 minutes is about as long as I can concentrate without my mind wandering off too much. And, as you get used to focus only on your WIP (because you know you'll get a chance to fool off in almost no time), you start retaining the capacity to concentrate on it for longer.
Cool, eh? I'm posting this hoping that it will help someone else overcome their procrastination problems
If you have any way to combat procrastination (for us folks who can't just BIC and be done with it), share!
