I’m a huge procrastinator. Have been my whole life. Now that I’m spending my evenings growing a new career, procrastination isn’t just annoying, it can destroy my efforts.
I read some writing advice once about how to get over writer’s block. I don’t remember for sure where, it may have been one of the NaNoWriMo encouragement letters or a Writer’s Digest article. Anyway, it said to establish a routine for your writing time. Do certain things in the same order each day before you sit down to write. Eventually as you do this routine, when you get to the part where you sit down to write, you’ll feel ready to write because you’ve conditioned yourself into writing mode.
I’ve done a lot of studying of operant conditioning techniques, so this advice really sounded like what I needed. I’ve been writing every day this year so far. I’ve made it well over a month now when all my previous attempts to establish a daily writing habit have failed.
But it turns out that that persistent piece of me that loves to procrastinate doesn’t give up that easily. My pre-writing routine has consisted of putting my children to bed, and sitting at the computer to play a video game. I tell myself I’m to exhausted from work, or from the kids to dive straight into writing. I need a little mindless break. Okay, fine.
Unfortunately, the game I like to play, Civilization III, (yes I know I’m terribly outdated in my gaming tastes) has a way of making me lose all track of time. So while I still write when I’m done playing, sometimes that doesn’t happen until midnight. Sure, I can write at midnight, but I can write a lot more at 9:30, and I can still get a few hours of sleep too.
Tonight I tried something different for my pre-writing routine. I put my kids to bed, and sat down at the computer and did a few article reviews at Helium. Maybe not as mindless, but I still don’t have to invest a lot from myself. It worked. I’m almost done writing this entry, and it’s only 9:10. I’ll probably write another article before going to bed, and I won’t wake up exhausted.
I was home today, so we’ll see how well this routine holds up after a workday. I’m trying to figure out a way to fit in an exercise routine into my evening too. That may be pushing things. I may have to drag the kids out for a walk during the day and ignore their whines about it. I’ll come up with something.
So go ahead and play mind games with yourself if you’re having trouble changing your habits. If you already have a writing routine, leave a comment about it. I may steal some pieces as I fine tune my own.
