A technique for defeating procrastination despite mental health problems
Hi there, Anon-kun :)
How was your winter holiday? I hope you’re having a fun and productive new year. I spent the end of december increasing my collection of cold-type illnesses while in a perpetual warm food coma. I had to drip feed myself pokemon sun happiness (message me if you wanna swap friend codes). But now it’s 2017 I’ve made a new years resolution which I’m sure many of you can relate to: I’ve decided that I’m going to write every day this year.
Procrastination is the ruiner of my life. I spend most days under its yoke.
For example, about 2 hours ago I sat down to write this post for you lovely anons. Instead of diving right in and starting, I have spent the time looking at all the different ways that shapes tessellate.
Because brain said ‘ooh pretty’.
But, I’m here now. I’m doing the thing. And that’s what I’d like to talk to you about today.
So, my chronic mental health problems don’t weigh so heavily upon my energy pool during daylight hours as they do at night, and I just spent most of the sun time either tinkering with things I could have done during my more sleepy hours or doing required human things like eating.
*Despite this,* I am not screaming at myself for being slow on the uptake. I am just starting anyway.
My daily goal is to write 200 words. I initially thought this meant I had to write 200 words of prose, but I have since revised this to mean ‘200 words of stuff’. I have been forced to revise my tight definitions because sometimes, you just have to go easy on yourself. Especially if you are living with health problems, mental or otherwise; you can’t scream at yourself to run a marathon when you have broken legs and expect that to help.
This blog will count towards my word count :).
Sometimes you’re in a dip and the reason you are procrastinating is because you know that dip so well that it has become comforting. Oh, you might be frustrated and angry to be in the dip, but not being in the dip is something you’re not used to yet. Actually Starting (TM) is something I struggle with every day, in all aspects of life. But putting yourself down because something is hard (and it IS hard. It doesn’t just FEEL hard - you’re not just making it up), is just going to make you feel worse.
Here is what I’d like you to do next time you notice yourself procrastinating:
- Minimise or close everything you’ve been using to distract yourself
- Close your eyes
- Breathe for 20 in/outs
- Remind yourself of your task (in our case, writing, but this could apply to other stuff)
- Open a new document
- Write the words ‘I don’t know how I’m going to start this because it’s probably going to be shit and I’m scared because I want it to be good’ or something similar to this.
- From this sentence, carry on talking to yourself. Discuss the problem with yourself. Listen to yourself. Ask yourself questions that you kinda might know the answer to:
‘This is really hard isn’t it? Yes it is. I really like this character though. Oh? Why’s that? Because they remind me of me. What aspects of you can you see in this character? They’re shy and tired all the time. What do you think their favourite colour is?’
- Keep going
Keep asking yourself questions. You can’t have a blank page and just magically know what to write - not without significant practise. You’re going to have to discuss it first.
What you write during this freewriting technique is called ‘pre-writing’. Pre-writing is all the stuff you have to write before you can get to the actual prose/poem - the ‘real’ writing. All the thoughts that are in your way. All the questions that need answers. If you can get in the habit of writing to yourself this way before trying to make yourself start that first draft, you will feel much more confident when you do start, because you’ll have a better idea of what you think. Plus, this way, you’ve kindof already started, haven’t you? ;)
Also, a side note: if you’re having trouble concentrating on just the one task, you might consider writing them all out in a list so that your brain understands that you will address these other things, and will let you focus on just this one thing for now.
That’s all from me today. I hope this was of some use to you, Anon-kun :).
Please do write to me with any questions or comments, and let me know about your new year’s resolutions! I always reply as quickly as I can :)
Be kind to yourself!
~DTWB
The blog has been on hiatus for ages now because I’ve been focusing on work, dungeons and dragons, and family stuff. Basically just sorting out my life and ridding myself of demons.
I think at this point the blog is indefintely on hiatus.
I might decide to post things sporadically in the future, but I can’t keep feeling bad about not posting here. I hope you all understand.
If you guys need help getting over a writing block, please message me and I’ll get back to you -> marachime.tumblr.com
Thank you for following, and I hope to see you on the internet!
Love
DTWB
Grab your hopes, grab your dreams, Florian will tell you all about how to get motivated for them in this video!! Support us on Patreon! http://www.patreon.co...
Hey Anon-kun, it’s DTWB here.
I’m still not really well enough to write a full post for you guys, but I wanted to give you all a lil boost to your motivation. So here is the lovely Florian Walraven’s video on motivation on the @pegbarians youtube channel. It has been very useful for my own progress, so check it out. (Also, Pegbarians are just awesome anyways and you should subscribe to them for more awesome animation and fun!)
See you all next month for a much longer post on destroying writer’s block (I promise! D:)
Keep writing!
Love
DTWB
I’m sorry about radio silence. It turns out I’m still pretty unwell. On top of that I’m organising a secret birthday party and I’m about to take my translation business to the next level and move to Germany for a few months.
But, I promise I haven’t forgotten you! It’s just going to take a little while for me to get back to 2/month posts. Would 1/month posts be acceptable for in the mean time?
I hope your new years are going well and you’re reaching your daily wordcounts. I’ve managed to write 7486/6200 in January, and it was’t all just pre-writing - there was some actual, honest to the force first draft being hammered out there!
Send me a message and let me know how your month has gone.
Hello Anon-kun, DTWB here.
How have you been? <3
I’m just posting a tiny note here to let you know that I’m sorry I haven’t been posting the last 3 weeks. I’ve been pretty ill and have had to reduce how quickly I make progress with stuff, and that includes writing and blogging. I have some ideas for my next few posts, but energy to write them? Not so much.
Tell you what - I’ll have a lil’ break from things and get my energy up, and then in January I’ll tell you how I’m doing and we’ll keep writing together from then. Deal?
A fast (if slightly inaccurate) way to get words down when The Blank Page(tm) is staring at you.
Hi there, Anon-Kun! It’s your old pal DTWB here. Today I just wanted to take a quick break from NaNoing to talk briefly about one technique that I have found really useful over the last few days for reaching my wordcounts.
I have been struggling to make myself face that scary old Blank Page the last few days. So I decided instead of typing, I would just speak myself to my word count! I’ve been using the voice to text function that the android keyboard provides on my smartphone and dictating my words into a google doc.
You could also use a voice to text program such as dragon ($$$), speechnotes (free) or windows speech recognition software (free) if you’re working on a desktop.
I find it really helps me to beef up my word count. I repeat myself and go on tangents quite a lot in my speech, where I wouldn’t when I’m just typing.
The only slight problem is that (at least for the android keyboard one) the software can be a bit slow or unhappy about understanding you.
Example: http://imgur.com/hPzH8EE
But, it only takes a little while to go through and edit any spelling or word errors (which you’re going to do anyway once you’ve finished the first draft) and it’s really helped me move forward, so I think it’s worth it.
Anyway, I hope that helps you slap your inner editor in the face, Anon-Kun!
