Now I have spent a few words about procrastination in the past, but I've never considered the deep roots on which it grows. Particularly, as I started to think about it. I've always been a mild procrastinator, meaning that I could complete every task I had scheduled, even if it wasn't in the exact order, and perhaps sometimes I had to rush.
Since my new career as a writer started up, I have seen an increase in my tendency to postpone my duties. Likewise, many other indie writers have to rely on my day job to provide the funds necessary to live and pay my bills. Yet, this means that I have much less time to dedicate to de-stress, relax, and spend time in the family.
I should have seen it coming that this also means an increase of stress when I need to check up on my ads, write new novels, create social media posts, read and review.
Indeed it's an increase of stress, and I believe this is why lately, I couldn't find the right motivation to write my weekly blog or even the time to do it. I realize I have been searching for something else to do, or even doing nothing at all because I needed to recharge.
A small part of me feels guilty for having let things slip away. The other part is reasoning with those senses of guilt, justifying them by my lack of time and need to rest my brain with activities that have nothing to do with work or writing.
I believe this is something very familiar within the indie society, and it's something I know I should take care of before this slight stress turns into burnout.
The best way I can think about it is to make sure I can organize a sort of schedule. But most of all, I should consider not to pretend too much from myself.
I don't need to write a certain amount of words a day if this will overwhelm me, nor I need to cram in a single day the checking for the ads, and I can undoubtedly make scheduling of social posts a smart way to ease my time. But most of all, I don't need to kill myself in what I love to do, which is writing.
Why would I turn into a nightmare, something I consider a dream?
If you have the same problem of being too stressed to focus and tend to procrastinate more than you used to do before, the solution might be decluttering.
Wish you a fantastic weekend!
Thanks for this very timely post! I am definitely experiencing more than normal bouts of procrastination. I appreciate your words and suggestions!
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Maude
Been procrastinating this year with my writing. Though it's different from last year when I was beyond stuck this year it felt more like a lethargy. I was doing a lot of reading, re-reading my favorite stories. But at least I wrote inside my head and made edits here and there. Revised a few sentences. That's more than what I did last year. But NaNoWriMo is a month away and my goal this year is to finally finish my urban fantasy draft.
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