The Procrastinator’s New Year’s Resolution

The Procrastinator’s New Year’s Resolution

Okay, I suck at New Year’s Resolutions.  I can’t really think of one thing I’ve accomplished based on some yearly promise.  Of course, I know why this is… I’m a procrastinator and I give myself a whole year to get my resolution done.  Yeah.  Not a good idea.  Things change – work gets crazier, kids’ needs fluctuate unpredictably, priorities shift.  It’s easy to dismiss an unspecific goal, with a good enough reason, over the course of 365 days!

“Unspecific goal,” about that:  Taking one of the things I’ve learned in my many years in Weight Watchers, goals are important, but staying motivated is even more so.  As a writer, it’s kind of funny to spend so much time with my characters goals, motivation, and conflicts, but not enough on my own.  However, I’ll save that tangent for another day.

Goals are important, but if it’s something like “I want to save $20,000 this year,” without following it up with a plan, nothing will magically make it happen.  Instead, motivation dwindles and it seems impossible.

I know all this, but still get myself caught up in the same cycle, and it’s becomes a “maybe next year.”  This year, there are so many things I want to accomplish, and right now I am extremely motivated, so I am striking while the iron is hot!

A recent conversation with a friend brought up the merits of planning days in advance – like a calendar at work, but making sure to allot time for all your goals.  Example: Write from 8:00-9:00 – or even just 15 minutes, as long as time is devoted to the goals each day.  So I am going to give it a try – after all winging it hasn’t helped.

I’ve also realized I have too many things vying for my time and it can be overwhelming.  Passing thoughts, like; clean out nightstand, look up romance beat sheets, pick up highlighters.  In order to keep track of all these tasks coming to mind randomly throughout the day, I’ve dedicated a small notepad to keep track of them and clear up some mental space.  We’ll see how it goes!

I'm My Own Worst Boss

 

Everyone told me to treat writing like a job.  I'd need to show up and actually work, as I would for any other employer.  There should be goals and deadlines.  A plan.  In other words, I need to be productive.  It’s all very true.  But…

 

I have quickly found, I’m my own worst boss.

 

Ironically, I’m a manager at my day job – you know, the one that actually pays the bills.  I have eleven people who report directly to me and I hold a great deal of inter-departmental responsibility on top of that.  You’d think I’d be a better boss to myself when it comes to writing.  Not so much.

 

If you’ve ever worked for someone else, then you know when you have a bad boss your job can go downhill pretty damn quick.  This applies when you’re self-employed, too.  Part-time, Full-time, it doesn’t matter.  Bad leadership is bad business, period.

 

 

The Good Boss

 

We recently held a Leadership in-service at work and they discussed topics such as, What qualities make up a good boss? 

 

• The top answer is leading by example – pretty hard to do when your “example” is what you’re trying to improve.  But there are other authors out there who are emulation worthy.

 

• Fairness was also somewhere near the top.  And I don’t think fairness means a six hour marathon of Arrow on Netflix as a reward for surviving the Monday through Friday routine.  So I began thinking, it’s really not fair to the characters when their author is slacking off, is it?

 

• Other qualities that I can recall were recognition, organization, and conflict resolution (which isn’t that just handy).  You get the drift; all of these are applicable to writing as well.

 

So this is part of the new mindset I’ve been trying to keep when it comes to writing.  To be a better boss to myself.

 

 

Excuses

 

Maybe you’re lucky enough to not have a certain affliction, but apparently I’ve got it bad.  It’s called procrastination.  And it’s usually followed by the excuse “I don’t have time.”  Yes, I do.  And if you’ve said this – you probably do, too.  Not probably – there’s time.  But like anything else it doesn’t magically jump up and identify itself.  So the challenge is to start being honest. 

 

“I don’t have time because I watched six hours of Arrow.”

 

“I don’t have time because I spent an hour scrolling through my newsfeed on Facebook.”

 

“I don’t have time because instead of writing, I decided it was a good time to google HTML for blogger.”

 

All true stories, by the way.  And I did learn a lot about HTML – love Google.  LOL.  But it’s not getting the story written and that’s the bottom line. 

 

 

What about you?  Suffer from procrastination, or find yourself without time like me?