Beware the Procrastination Demons
by: R.P. McCabe
To be perfectly honest, procrastination is a perplexing concept for me. I write everyday of my life. The thought of not writing daily corrupts and confuses my routine in such a way that it is not worth the entropy it leaves in my psyche. I interpret that as my deepest inner-self telling me how fortunate I am and nudging me forward to embrace every possible moment available in the pursuit of composing.
If you are a procrastinator, if you find yourself making excuses as to why you can’t find the time to write, one of two effects is taking place. The first is painful for me to tell you. But if you receive nothing else from me, you will receive honesty. The first obvious observation I make in the discussion over procrastination is, maybe it just isn’t important enough to you. Many people want to be writers until it becomes painfully clear what it’s going to take. Even worse is the epiphany that this is what the rest of your life is going to look like if you go down this road. It’s okay to fool the world. That’s what writers do in a sense. But don’t try to fool yourself. It never works.
The second possibility as the root of procrastination is a lack of organization and an understanding that your subconscious is on the job 24/7. When thoughts come into your conscious mind, you have to capture them immediately or risk losing them forever. These are the seeds from which your writing grows. Carry a small pocket recorder or a small note pad and scribble or record the little ditties that float in and out of your consciousness constantly. That act alone puts a stop to procrastination. Once this act becomes second nature to you, you’ll note suddenly you are writing all the time. When you sit down for composing, you have wonderful material to fuel your writing session.
Zero in on when you are creative. I mean the time of day when your creative juices are flowing the strongest. For me, that is from around 3:00 a.m. to noon…more or less. I have a writing friend who waits until her children are fed and homework is done in the evening, her family is watching TV. Her day is done and now her creative juices are flowing. She writes until the wee hours of the morning.
Don’t fight nature or your daily routine. Find the slot where your creativity is flowing naturally, then create a situation by which you can write and take advantage of the natural flow of things. When you do that, procrastination goes away.
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