"I don't feel like writing today." Have you ever heard a friend say that? Have you ever given yourself a day off when you couldn't afford it because you felt that way? I have, and every single time I've let myself off the hook with that excuse, it's turned out to be a mistake.
Those of us who work in the arts are the only people who get to base our work--or lack thereof--on our feelings. Imagine a doctor telling his patient, "I'm just not in the mood to do open-heart surgery today. I'd rather do an appendectomy." Imagine your accountant calling you an April 14 and announcing, "I didn't file your taxes this year because I couldn't get in the mood."
If there's one thing I've learned as a freelancer, it's that I'll never be in the mood for some tasks. I'll never enjoy marketing, for instance, and some of the writing assignments I take on in order to pay the bills are just plain boring. If I waited to do these things until I felt like it, they would never get done.
So, how do you force yourself to do what you really do not want to do? The techniques below have worked pretty well for me:
1. Bribery. When I'm working on an assignment that makes me want to scream, I reward myself each step of the way with small treats, like lighting a candle or taking a few minutes off to snuggle with my cats. Finishing the project, of course, triggers a larger reward, usually in the form of purchasing a book from my Amazon wish list.
2. Break It Down. The more difficult and involved the project is, the greater the importance of breaking it down into easily accomplished baby steps. Don't think of having to tackle ten articles: take it one article at a time. If even that feels too overwhelming, break the articles up into manageable sections.
3. Make a Ten-Minute Contract. Promise yourself that you'll work on the project for just ten minutes. Set a timer to go off at the end of that time. If, at the end of those ten minutes you have some momentum going and want to continue, go for it! If no, feel free to stop when the ten minutes are up. You can do another ten minutes the next day.
4. Tackle It First. Rather than let the dreaded project sit on your desk all day, reminding you of the unpleasantness ahead, simply make it your first task of the day and dive right in. Imagine how good it will feel not to have to think about that task for the rest of the day.
5. Don't Worry Too Much About Quality. If you're a good writer when you want to be, you'll almost certainly be a good writer even when you don't want to be. I've compared things I've written when I was depressed, anxious, or unenthusiastic with things I've written while "in the zone." There is little difference between them. Don't assume that you can't write just because you don't feel like writing.
Your turn: Do you procrastinate on writing tasks you dislike? How do you get yourself back to work?
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