Did you know that procrastination is actually bad? Yea, I know. It came as a shock to me too.
Ok, sorry. I can’t help being sarcastic sometimes. But the point is, procrastination is an important topic for us writers. It’s very easy to put things off and when we have deadlines and goals to achieve, procrastination puts our writing projects at risk.
But it gets worse
After quite a long time writing about how to overcome procrastination, I’m still battling against it. I noticed something recently, procrastination was stopping me from working, however, it was also contributing to mental fatigue towards my writing project.
Have you ever noticed that after you’ve spent an afternoon procrastinating, you feel more tired and anxious when you think about your lit review? This is really bad because after a while, you realise that you have spent a large proportion of your time not doing your writing, but also making yourself less able to mentally contribute to the challenge of writing a literature review.
Procrastination contributes to your mental fatigue without achieving anything
Bad, bad news!
If you procrastinate, you could have less energy to work later on, you will have achieved nothing and you will be more stressed.
If you read this and you come to the same realisation then probably, like me, your stomach will hit the floor and you’ll feel a little uneasy.
So you need procrastination first aid
Every time I think that I’m basically sucking my energy away by procrastinating I get a sudden jolt. Then, I use this quick burst of temporary motivation and commit to working on my lit review for 25 minutes (i.e. 1 pomodoro). This simple act is enough to stop the insidious effect of procrastination. After 25 mins, if I stop working, at least I have mentally and physically achieved something. Normally though, the process of just starting working triggers more motivation and I tend to do between 2 and 5 25 minute work-sprints before I finish.
Long term productivity health
As well as a quick fix, you also need to think about how your work habits or projects are causing you to procrastinate. Something is probably missing from your work life that is causing your procrastination such as:
Fulfilment
Clarity
Structure
Time off
Priorities
Have a think about if you lack these in your writing project and I will address each of them in a follow up blog post.
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