Freelance Writing and Research

Are You a Procrastinator?

If you are a writer then there will inevitably be times when you think you have writer's block or you are finding it hard to get started on a particular project. It seems easier somehow to tidy your desk or check the emails and while you are about any chat sites that you belong to. One thing that is difficult for many writers is to know just how to structure their day. When there is no recognizable structure to anything it is easy to feel overwhelmed by work and by life in general. This is the problem for many procrastinators. They haven't identified what is important to them, what is urgent and what can be left until tomorrow - so they waste more time trying to escape what they see as an overpowering amount of work instead of sorting out their priorities.

Writers Must Manage Themselves

When we go out to work we often have a boss or manager to whom we are responsible - when we work for ourselves then we are the only person we are responsible to. We try to meet our deadlines because we enjoy what we are doing, want to earn some money and want to keep our clients - but there is no-one around to crack the whip when we veer off course. It is up to us to pull ourselves in line and to get on with what we should be doing.

The only cure I have found for procrastination is to identify my motivations for doing something. Motivations spring from feelings and unless we are intune with our own motivations and feelings then we can't identify what is important to us. Thus we find ourselves either dealing with urgent things that are not important to us and are only urgent because we have left them undone for so long. The first step in managing yourself as a writer is to know yourself and your motivations. Then you will begin to stop procrastinating and get on with what you really want to do - why else would you be a writer?