Organizing for Creative People by Sheila Chandra

Author:Sheila Chandra
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Organizing for Creative People
ISBN: 9781786780225
Publisher: Watkins Media
Published: 2017-05-09T04:00:00+00:00

Dealing with everyday procrastination

There will always be reasons to skive. Some of you will be in professions where you’ll be asked to work at hours when other people are partying; even to work around them when they’re partying. To stop yourself procrastinating, you have to know the reasons you are working and to visualize or hold what you are working towards very clearly in your own mind. But there’s more you can do on an everyday level.

Start with an overview of when you are smartest, brightest or most creative. These will not necessarily coincide. So, for example, I know that I am great at reading contracts first thing in the morning (i.e. at my smartest) but best at seeing the potential in good musical ideas at about 10pm (i.e. most creative). I also know that I absorb new melodies fastest just before bedtime. Take a moment now to list when you work best at different kinds of tasks.

Sometimes you’ll find you avoid a task that you don’t have the skills to complete well, or that you’ve asked yourself to do at the wrong time of day, or when you’re exhausted. Sometimes you will avoid something because you feel overwhelmed. Pick a task that you’ve been avoiding which falls into this category. Break it down into its constituent parts, making sure that each of them feels achievable. It may be that you can’t complete one of these parts easily, or that it’s a task you hate. Think about the best time of day for you to tackle this task, breaking it down into baby steps if necessary. Try to schedule a slot in your diary to do it, leaving plenty of time. Here are some specific tips to help you with a hated task.

•Bribe yourself with support or a reward. If it’s a task (or part of a task) you hate, can you make it easier by, say, having someone with you, or scheduling a reward immediately afterwards, such as going on your favourite walk?

•Break the ice. If you’re someone who just finds it hard to get started, can you promise yourself to spend ten minutes on the task and only go on with it if you want to?

•Warm up with something easy. If you find it hard to start work, does it help to begin with something that feels easy, or that you’re excited about?

•Work out what’s troubling you. If you are scared to do the task, can you work out which part of it you are frightened of and why, and provide a safety net? This is often valuable information about where you are lacking and is a very important thing to allow yourself to feel.

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