If you’re a human, you know all about procrastination. It’s the nagging voice telling you to watch just one more episode of “Wednesday” instead of emptying the dishwasher or mowing the yard.
If you’re a creative, it’s the unseen roommate sitting on your shoulder, whispering not only that watching another movie will help spark your creativity, but that you’re not good enough to write, or paint, or whatever your outlet is, so why even bother?
It’s the voice telling you that you deserve to rest a little longer, have one more bowl of chips, etc. It feeds you comforting thoughts because it wants you to be comfortable. After all, that’s a much easier way to go through life – much less stressful and so much easier than trying to make something or do something hard.
I’m in one of those weird cycles where everything I see and hear follows a pattern. You know those? When you buy a car and suddenly every car you see is the same make, model and color? For me, it’s all about habits – how to form good ones and break bad ones. How you should only do one at a time, or just jump in and fix them all.
There’s a lot of conflicting information, which is to be expected. Books on habit-forming have been huge sellers since “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” came out in 1989, and they’re all different in their own ways.
I’m reading “Atomic Habits” right now and it’s fascinating to see the process and how it applies to so many areas. But I listened to a podcast on habits yesterday and have seen several articles and social posts over the last two weeks.
What do habits have to do with procrastination? Pretty much everything. Procrastination is a result of letting those cues that guide your behavior convince you that the hard work creating takes isn’t worth the effort, time and frustration. And some days, it’s impossible to argue.
But if you’re committed to your passions, you have to fight through those doubts and do the work. The more you do it, the more it becomes a habit.
Sounds simple, doesn’t it? If it was, we’d all do it. But for me, the key is to keep trying because after all, that’s how habits are formed.
Drop me any thoughts, suggestions, whatever you think about this and I’ll share them with the group
Chris Brewster writes from his home in Waverly, New York. You can see more of his writing here. Chris also recently released his first book, A Lab in The Lab, which you can find here.