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Saturday, April 17, 2010

Procrastination - Big Breath - Dive In!

A Friday or so ago one of those helpful reminders landed in my inbox - how to stave off procrastination.

Procrastination - I thought.  Who has time?   On that particular day I managed a full-time job, an interview, a last minute look through a novel to ensure it was ready to go out the door, an update to my website, the usual mad dash to the grocery store, oh and social time - it was a Friday night.  Procrastinate?  I don't have time...  or do I?

A jumble of phone and electrical wires - Cambodia 

Okay, so maybe I do.  Maybe I didn't need to flop onto the couch for two hours of watching "Firestarter".  So something has to go and that day something did - social time.  But for Firestarter?  Hey, I was tired and yes it's an old movie but it was taped free on TV and it is based on a Stephen King novel, so what more can I say.  Could I have used that time better?  Probably.  Was I procrastinating?  Maybe. 

So I decided to read on and discovered that I only need one thing to prevent procrastination - simplify.  Okay - I can agree there.  My life could probably be simpler than it is.

So simplify, get rid of stuff.  Not just physical stuff but the stuff that eats at your time.  The movie that you already saw and that wasn't so great the first time round.  Seems overly simplistic.  What about procrastinating because you just don't want to do something or because it appears too difficult.  The article never touched on that.

I know sometimes I'm guilty of over-thinking,  complicating the issue and stalling.  Maybe it doesn't matter how you get from point a to point b - maybe it's just a matter of beginning the journey.  Hold your breath and dive in.  Kind of like writing a novel.  If one chapter is balking, slip into the next.  There's nothing wrong with a little random order.  A novel works rather like life - trim the fat, simplify and the task will look easier.  Now for the rest. 

Trim, pair, simplify.  Well - there's only one problem.  Where do I find the time?  And is it really that simple?


Ryshia
www.ryshiakennie.com
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2 comments:

Marcia Colette said...

If one chapter is balking, slip into the next. There's nothing wrong with a little random order.

This is so true. I've skipped chapters, left a big note to fix it, and move on to the next. It took me a while to learn that there weren't any steadfast rules regarding what order to write a book. Boy, did that revelation catapult me forward.

Ryshia Kennie said...

Catapulted right out of the rule book - okay I'll skim read the thing and follow to a point but... Yep, like that catapulted - that would be both of us, Marcia.