Heidi Grant Halvorson of the Harvard Business Review has written a great article on the mindsets that keep us from being productive and what we can do to combat those feelings. Her advice applies to all types of work, but the lack of motivation she’s talking about is exactly the kind most writers suffer from.
Heidi writes:
Can you imagine how much less guilt, stress, and frustration you would feel if you could somehow just make yourself do the things you don’t want to do when you are actually supposed to do them? Not to mention how much happier and more effective you would be?
The good news (and its very good news) is that you can get better about not putting things off, if you use the right strategy. Figuring out which strategy to use depends on why you are procrastinating in the first place.
Heidi lists three reasons why people put things off, and all apply to writers, but this first one hits particularly close to home:
Reason #1 You are putting something off because you are afraid you will screw it up.
Solution: Adopt a “prevention focus.”
There are two ways to look at any task. You can do something because you see it as a way to end up better off than you are now – as an achievement or accomplishment. As in, if I complete this project successfully I will impress my boss, or if I work out regularly I will look amazing.
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