I recently caught a few minutes of a Bob Newhart comedy sketch featuring an evil variation on the bumbling psychotherapist from his old “Bob Newhart Show.” In this sketch, the treatment method was something called “Stop It” Therapy. Whatever bugged the patient, the cure was always the same. Just stop it. Sessions consisted of Newhart yelling as loud as he could, “Stop it!” at every mention of a problem.
Okay: it’s just after 2 pm here, and I’ve had a very industrious, productive morning doing lots of things that had to be done: not one of happened to be today’s number-one agenda item, starting NaNoWriMo with my first 1,500 words.
Procrastination is so familiar to me, it’s like an old buddy–one who never was a friend really, just a life-suck, yet still hangs around and I just don’t know how to say “get lost.” I’ve been afflicted with it all my life. I’ve talked about it endlessly with other writers (most of whom have it too)––usually during cherished work hours. There are a ton of books about it, of course, and you can get plenty of help on the web…and pay plenty of money for it, too. I’ve tried this, tried that, but sometimes it seems like there’s no just answer for it anywhere in the universe…at least not for me.
Of course, who am I kidding–I know what the answer is. It’s just as stupidly simple as Newhart’s: “STOPPIT!” Stop the avoidance pattern. Just STOPPIT. Go sit down. Stay there. Start typing. Keep going. Don’t get up, now matter what. And so on…
How about you? Does anyone have an effective remedy for procrastination? If so, please share. Meanwhile, in desperation, I’m going to try Stoppit therapy and see if that works.
I’ll have a video report later (possibly MUCH later) this evening to let you know how I did… Meanwhile, good luck to all of you who’ve decided to run the NaNoWriMo marathon. And if you happen to be having trouble getting going…just STOPPIT!
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Speaking from my field of psychology, I know that some believe procrastination is just the flip side of perfectionism. In other words, “I won’t get started because I know I can’t get it perfect.” And some say it is based in a fear of being judged and criticized. I, for one, think procrastination is about different things for different people in varying situations, but I do think it has its roots in anxiety of some kind. So I think I will push my own anxiety to the corner and quit procrastinating by writing this and get back to my novel….
Ditto – What Marilyn said, fear that it won’t be perfect and everyone will know. I think it’s even worse with writing, because there, it is in ink… admissible in any court.
Add to that a lack of focus. If I don’t know exactly what I want to say and how I want to say it, I feel that I “waste” precious time getting it right. The truth is that trial and error, type and erase and type again, is just the process. Deal with it and do it.
The best way for me to get over procrastination is to map out a plan of what I will write today. (Not that I end up following it, but having a direction gets me going.)
The other thing is I need to be accountable. I need to know that X number of pages are expected to be in somebody’s hands on a certain date. That’s where writing groups come in handy. Or a husband who asks ‘what did you do today?’