5 Quick & Dirty Ways to Stop Goofing Off and Get Your Writing Done
Procrastination is the enemy. When you’ve only got 45 or 60 minutes to get a piece of writing done for your business, every second counts and focus is worth its weight in dark chocolate with sea salt and almonds…
Here are 5 ways to park your butt in your chair so your writing gets done:
#1 Move your body (or clean something that’s driving you nuts). Many times, our procrastination is a reasonable response to something that we need to address BEFORE we sit down and write. Jump rope, do 3 vinyasa, or annihilate the dust rhino under your desk. Consider it your warm up for your next writing task.
#2 Time box yourself. Most of us don’t have a spare 4 hours lying around… but we do have 15 minutes. Make your writing task a game. Get curious. Approach your task with a spirit of play. Become wonder woman! Ask yourself: I wonder how much I can get done in the time I do have? This will shift your energy and attitude in subtle yet profound ways.
#3 Write an outline first. It’s easy to blur the steps of “outlining my ideas” and “writing to communicate clearly with other people,” especially when you’re in a rush. But man, what a difference it can make to separate them into two distinct steps! Take 5 or 10 minutes to map out your ideas or the flow of your sales piece before you write it. Warning: this one trick may trigger a wave of relief and productivity so big, you’ll need a surfboard.
#4 Make a public declaration. In our Write Club community our members regularly post things like this:
This is about as quick and dirty as it gets. Set your intention. Set your timer. Write a quick post or text an accountabilibuddy. Then get writing!
#5 Make procrastination part of your message. Get this: you are not the only human being who puts off, stalls, wrestles with, avoids, or has a block around something. What have you learned about overcoming procrastination, that you can tweak and apply to your clients and your line of work? If you’re a financial educator, you may talk about how people put off opening their credit card statements. If you’re a parenting coach, maybe you talk about how parents avoid certain discussions with their teens. You don’t need to go into all the gory details of your own story, but you can relate and empathize with your audience in a simple, genuine way.
At the end of the day, procrastination may not be the enemy at all. Perhaps it’s just a signal that the way we are approaching writing is broken, that our attitude is in need of some love, or that we’ve been trying to do too much with too little, and we are plum tired (and ripe for a new experience).
It also bears repeating a quote that has stuck with me for many years (I’m not sure who originally wrote it): sometimes the holiest thing we can do is nap.
It’s far too easy to get caught up in the go-go-go culture of achievement, results, and accomplishment, especially if you have a lot of exposure to online marketing. Remember: that’s just one way of being in the world. You’re running your own race in your business, so ultimately, you get to decide whether it’s “procrastination” or “regrouping barefoot in the grass and sunshine in the backyard because I’m pushing too hard and that doesn’t feel fun or good right now.”
Words create worlds, so make sure the stories you tell yourself are the ones you want to come true.
