Some days, I procrastinate. Some days, I procrastinate ALL DAY. Don’t tell my husband, bec he works really hard. Don’t tell anyone, really, bec I’m not proud of it.
Sometimes, I’m downright ashamed that I’ve procrastinated away half a day, and still have things that need to get done. Shame complicates things, right? Now instead of just playing solitaire or watching tv, I’m feeling bad.
“Bad” requires fixing. And what fixes bad? You might have other remedies, but for me, the immediate and prolonged application of carbohydrates seems to work. Popcorn, cake, chocolate can work miracles.
Don’t confuse procrastinating with relaxing, however. Relaxing is good, earned, at peace. Procrastinating is troubled, conflicted. They may look similar – the subject is sitting on the couch, watching tv with a cup of tea – but it’s what’s going on inside that differs.
The procrastinator is not just passing the time of day, she is avoiding something.
Procrastination is resistance and it can look like many other innocuous behaviors: cleaning, eating, drinking, shopping, decorating, coloring, facebooking, baking, or knitting. The difference between knitting and procrastinating is, you’re not just knitting, you’re knitting your brows, too, at least metaphorically. (That’s really meta, right? A metaphor within a metaphor.)
So the Big Question is: Is procrastination all your fault? Couldn’t I just put down the popcorn bowl, turn off the tv and go do my writing? Where there’s a will, there’s a way, right?
Well… not always. An exertion of will can only take you so far, and then what? You have that work that needs doing. Books that need writing, blog posts that don’t write themselves. Once you exert your will, will you automatically be energetically engaged in that thing you’ve been avoiding?
What it might behoove you to know is that you’re likely procrastinating bec you’ve been drained of energy. You may not even be tired, but you’re faced with a task that is not how your brain likes to work. We all have preferences for what kind of thinking we like to do. And by contrast there are types of thinking that drag us down, go-back-to-bed-down. And going back to bed is not usually an option, so we procrastinate and avoid and pretend.
Additionally, our little fragile egos don’t want to countenance the possibility that there’s anything “wrong” with our brains. I imagine the team from the movie, “Inside Out” arguing over how to help Riley the soccer playing girl whose brain they live inside: “Of course, she can think! She’s brilliant. She deserves a piece of cake after that kind of insult to her superiority!”
Of course, we can think. We’re brilliant writers. But some kinds of thinking come very easily to us – and therefore give us energy – and other thinking skills drain us of energy.
So, here’s where the blame for procrastinating nets out:
- Our brains for having varying levels of energy for different thinking skills (NOT MY FAULT!)
- Our egos for making procrastinating into such a big deal (NOT MY FAULT!)
- Our ambitions for wanting to do real things, ever. (NOT MY FAULT!)
Is there a solution? Of course. When I’m procrastinating, I’m almost always avoiding convergent thinking. I’m a whiz at divergent thinking and you can’t slow me down when all I have to do is come up with more ideas. But when it’s time to converge (to narrow down and select ideas, perfect work) I’m often going to get stuck in a bout of procrastinating before I knuckle down. You may be opposite. You’re guns-a’blazin’ once you have your ideas, and you can dig in, but when it’s time to come up with the ideas, you go to a movie and put off ideation.
This whole blog post is headed toward something… maybe it’s not all your fault. Of course. But you can understand how your creative thinking works better, so that you have ways out of procrastination.
Procrastination can end before you’ve spent hours watching Law & Order and/or eaten mountains of ice cream. Ask me how.
There are thinking skills assessments that can give you vital insight into when and why you get drained of energy and creative thinking tools that can help you avoid turning into that little kid foot-dragger who doesn’t wanna… [fill in the blank.] If you’re interested in the Creative Selfie, a 360-degree look at how your creative brain works, go here and read more.