The Secret To Beating Procrastination As A Writer

This strategy helped me a lot

I often have a big problem with procrastination. I want to start writing but suddenly I think of hundreds of other things I could do before.

First, I make a coffee. Then I clicked on Youtube out of habit and spend the next half hour there. Often an hour or more goes by before I finally start writing. I think I procrastinate partly because I’m just lazy and partly because I don’t know exactly how to write the article yet.

I am sure that almost every writer knows this phenomenon.

Fortunately, I have now found a weapon against this endless procrastination that helps me get things done. It doesn’t always work, but I definitely procrastinate less than before.

The Secret To Getting Things Done

So, what is the magic recipe for procrastination?

In my case, it’s writing 100 shitty words.

It’s as simple as that. Most of the time, just getting started is enough to get into a flow.

Once I get over myself, motivation seems to kick in. The first 100 words are usually a struggle, but after that, it suddenly seems easier and I quickly have the desire and motivation to finish the article. Most of the time I don’t stop until the article is finished. Sometimes I even get into such a flow that I go straight on to write the second and the third article. This is all because I got over myself and got the first crappy 100 words behind me.

Just Do Something

The well-known author Mark Manson writes about similar problems in his book “The Subtle Art Of Not Giving A Fuck.”

He calls his solution to the problem the “Do Something” Principle and describes how just getting started is probably the most important step of the whole process. No matter what you are trying to get done.

In doing so, he quotes his math teacher, Mr. Packwood:

“ If you’re stuck on a problem, don’t sit there and think about it; just start working on it. Even if you don’t know what you’re doing, the simple act of working on it will eventually cause the right ideas to show up in your head.”

Manson writes that he learned a powerful lesson about motivation thanks to his teacher’s advice, which I can also confirm from my own experience. We think that we need to be motivated to get started. Without motivation or inspiration, we don’t start. However, writing itself can also be an inspiration and motivate us to keep writing.

We, therefore, believe that a kind of chain reaction must happen in the following order so that we can complete what we have set out to do:

Emotional inspiration -> Motivation -> Desirable action

However, motivation is not a chain reaction of the three steps mentioned above, but rather a loop, which Manson presents as follows.

Inspiration -> Motivation ->Action ->Inspiration->Motivation ->Action_> Etc.

When we are not motivated, we can simply enter the loop at another point and create our own motivation. For example, like this. That’s what I do when I write and it works very well:

Action -> Inspiration -> Motivation

Thanks for reading!

Wait a second. You should get my articles in your inbox. Subscribe here. Maybe you also want to start writing on Medium yourself and make money. I made $2300 in my second month! You only need a membership for $5 a month. If you sign up with my link, you support me with a part of your fee without additional costs.

I think you will also like these articles: