How to Overcome Notbusyitis

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As I’m writing this (Tuesday), I don’t have work because of the snow. It’s 2:30 (4:10 now that I’m going through and editing), but instead of leaving for work in forty-five minutes, I’ll just … be here. On the couch. Presumably being useless.

I have a little-known disease called Notbusyitis. Victims of Notbusyitis are not busy — and yet they get even less things done than they would have if they were busy.

In this article, we’ll discuss causes, symptoms, and cures for Notbusyitis in hopes that through my procrastination I’ll actually accomplish something (e.g. write a blog post).

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Causes of Notbusyitis

The primary cause of Notbusyitis appears to be possession of the name Kellyn Roth, redheadedness, lefthandedness, and, of course, having nothing which I absolutely must do.

If you do not fill all these requirements, then you probably will not contract Notbusyitis.

I have yet to meet anyone but myself who is a frequent carrier of the disease. This is partially because everyone but me seems to be quite busy or at least seems to get more done when they are not busy.

Confused yet?

I think the primarily reason is my own lazyness … or perhaps the lack of urgency. Yet there’s always some deadline looming in just a bit, always some more work to do (e.g. this blog post).

But still I waste entire days when I’m not busy. Weekends, snow days, vacations. I never work as hard as I ought on them.

Symptoms of Notbusyitis

Of course, not working is the primary symptom, specifically not working when you’re not busy.

A crippling feeling of guilt and grief over the rapidly slipping-by hours is an accompanying emotion.

I can escape without guilt when I have work and chores and a bajillion other things to do. After all, I have an excuse then for not getting a bunch done. But even so, I do tend to get a LOT done while I’m working.

For instance, two days in a row last week I wrote over 2K in an hour. My fingers flew along the keyboard. Why? I wasn’t getting any more time that day to write. I had no choice.

I’ve also written blog posts and scheduled social media and done a thousand other things in a quarter of the time I usually do!

So I know I can get things done much faster than I generally do. But I don’t.

Stupid Notbusyitis.

Cures for Notbusyitis

Um … there are none? I’m stuck with this for the rest of my life?

Okay, okay. There are cures. Here’s what I’m doing today to overcome my Notbusyitis.

Opened up a new document.



I knew I needed a blog post. I knew it would be easier to write it in a document without worrying about formatting. So that was a start.




Grabbed earphones and turned on music loud enough to drown out my little brother’s stupid Minecraft videos.



Honestly, there is nothing STUPIDER (lol) than watching a video of someone else playing Minecraft, specifically when it’s a dumb-looking squeally nerdy pre-teen who needs a life.
I am not letting my kids play video/computer games. I don’t care. I’m just not. I got along fine without them, and my childhood was AWESOME. It was so much fun!
I mean, yeah, I’ve spent most of today doing stuff on the computer … but THAT’S DIFFERENT. I’m actually doing creative and money-making stuff. *self-righteous nod*
But anyway, yeah, music + sound-block-outage helps.




Decided what I needed to do today.



Write this blog post, make a graphic for said blog post, get it all formatted and scheduled and whatnot, unpack and practice instruments, and finish up with some plot sheets before settling in for some writing followed by from proofreading.
It’s … manageable. (Actually, this is three hours of work, but I don’t want to.)




Decided to do them all one at a time.



Obviously I started with the blog post. And I wrote up as much of it as I could (first draft) before going on to unpack instruments. Follow by making coffee (for reasons) followed by coming back to write more blog post.
I tend to get bored easily if I do any one thing for too long.




Started doing them.

I’ve found that writing that I’m doing things in a blog post even if it isn’t coming out until the morning is inspirational. More like a kick in the pants, but whatever.

So I did start to do them, but of course I got distracted (Duck Dynasty).

I made a list of them (in the document, haha) and started highlighting them in red as I finished them. (I’d already done some, so I was already ahead.)

The To-Do List

Write this blog post
Make a graphic for said blog post
Get it all formatted and scheduled and whatnot
Unpack and practice instruments
Finish up with some plot sheets
Writing and proofreading after all that’s done

Slowly, I finished it!

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In summary, the battle against Notbusyitis is a long and harrowing one, but it can be overcome.

TTFN!

~Kellyn Roth~

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p.s.

AM I REALLY THE ONLY ONE? I think I am. Also, what to you struggle with most when it comes to ? What author diseases are you infected by? (Would you like a series of posts about author diseases? Or a post dedicated to defining different ones?) What are you working on today?

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