You Can Be a Prolific Writer and a Procrastinator At the Same Time
Procrastination isn’t going anywhere, so why not make it comfortable?
After quitting my corporate recruiting job last year to focus on writing full time, I decided to take stock of my ability to keep a schedule, produce consistently, and put in daily work toward my writing goals.
To get ahead of my tendency to procrastinate, I created checklists and daily learning plans that I followed for two to three days before falling out of routine.
Realizing that I was losing my battle against procrastination, I decided to reward myself for tasks completed or withhold those rewards when I didn’t reach whatever daily task-based goal I’d set. In the end, I enjoyed my rewards (Oreos or trashy reality TV, usually) whether I did the work or not.
I felt hopeless. I couldn’t quite kill my bad habit of putting off doing things that mattered, and I wondered if I was the type that needed a structured corporate environment to excel.
After reading through piles of anti-procrastination articles on Medium, I determined that lazing away into failure is a widespread concern for those of us striving for success and unbridled productivity.
Procrastination and general “work avoidance” is not unique to you, me, or the millions of artists, writers, actors etc. who struggle with it. Yet, somehow we still have amazing art, books, and movies to enjoy — so there had to be a workaround.
Down with planning!
It took me a few months to realize that I had to take a novel approach to becoming a prolific writer. For example, I decided to create massive, on the fly word count goals. This approach tricks procrastination into submission since it bypasses the task list or other planning tools in favor of capitalizing on your most organically productive moments.
Quite simply: no planning allowed. Procrastination feeds on shirking plans, after all.
While there are times where I jump into work as soon as I get out of bed, that isn’t my norm, and that’s okay. I usually spend my mornings gaming (I write about gaming, so that’s research!), reading, or chatting with the fiance, and then spend my afternoons and evenings reaching whatever massive word count goal feels right once I’m at my desk. As long as I get the work done, it doesn’t matter how or when I do it.
For example, If I spend two days, say, writing 15,000–30,000 words or following 15–20 writing job leads, I am totally okay with doing a little less — or nothing at all — for a few days. I don’t beat myself up during less motivated moments because I’d moved the needle quite a bit earlier in the week.
Besides, who says you have to work like crazy every day? Sure, some people can do that —but they are a special breed to which I do not belong.
As I write this, I realize that this tactic might sound lazy. Then I remember that using this method, I landed my dream ghostwriting gig and completed a 70,000 word manuscript in three months. It’s the best piece of fiction I’ve ever written and is primed to be on shelves this summer, and I’m already about 20,000 words into my next manuscript.
The best part is, I am no longer overwhelmed by predetermined time commitments and rigid schedules — which is why I left corporate America in the first place: to work outside of those types of constraints.
The passage below offers credence to my method, and it’s from one of the most prolific writers in the world, no less:
“Then as now, I tend to go through periods of idleness followed by periods of workaholic frenzy.” — Stephen King, “On Writing”
Not even Stephen King writes all day every day. There are time spans where he isn’t writing as much, but when he is productive he’s a literal dynamo and has managed to write about 96 books throughout his career. I don’t presume that Stephen King is a procrastinator, he isn’t a mere mortal, after all, but his peaks and valleys of writing activity mimic my newfound modus operandi.
Procrastination is always going to be a struggle for many of us…
…so allowing it to live alongside your hard-working, focused side is your best bet.
You may not be on 100 every second of every day, but you do have moments where you know you must get your butt in the seat and get things done. In those moments, sit in the seat until you’ve written enough to buy yourself a few days of guilt-free procrastination.
Besides, with all the mental real estate we lease to the daily struggles of existence and tapping into our limited pool of willpower, we’re bound to fall short of what we expect of ourselves from time to time.
So be good to yourself, accept your procrastination, and realize that if you really care about what you’re trying to do, you’ll do it, even if you don’t do it every single day.
