Don’t put off ‘till tomorrow that which you can do today
🎵 Little Orphan Annie likes to sing about Tomorrow being only a day away, but if you’re always singing that song, you’ll never get anything done! 🎵
Alas, the Mind Goblin of procrastination is a common barrier to getting started and staying on track with writing a book.
Even with an outline that practically writes your book for you, many authors still find themselves singing about how the sun will come up tomorrow for their book project. But it never does.
There is always another project to do. Another family event to attend. Another load of laundry to put in the dryer.
One thing that keeps people stuck in the procrastination cycle is the belief that it is an issue of time management. If they can just find the right productivity tool, they would finish their book in no time.
However, procrastination is more an emotional issue, than a time issue.
If you are putting off writing your book time and time again, it may be time to discover what about your book project is triggering an unpleasant emotion that you want to avoid. Then get the help you need to overcome that trigger.
Some examples of emotional triggers that can cause procrastination are:
• You are writing something that is outside your normal wheelhouse and feel that you don’t have the chops to do it justice. You are avoiding a fear of failure.
• You are writing about something that reminds you of a past trauma or just a sad time in your life. You are avoiding unpleasant emotions such as fear, anger, or even grief.
• You’ve written yourself into a corner and don’t know how to fix it. You are avoiding the fear of having to toss the words you’ve written and start over again (thus wasting the time you spent to get there).
You may not even be aware of these emotions that you are avoiding, that’s why it is worth doing the inner work necessary to discover them. Only when you understand the root cause of your procrastination, can you fix it.
Phew! That was a tough Mind Goblin to vanquish, but you did it! So tomorrow I’ll tackle a lesser Mind Goblin: Lack of focus. This one is also very common, but it is also relatively easy to fix. See you then!
Missed a post in the series? Go here for a link list: https://bit.ly/shortbookpostseries
Want my help with your short book? DM me for details on my Authority Building Short Book Jumpstart being held on April 15. Only 25 slots are available and some are already spoken for.
Alas, the Mind Goblin of procrastination is a common barrier to getting started and staying on track with writing a book.
Even with an outline that practically writes your book for you, many authors still find themselves singing about how the sun will come up tomorrow for their book project. But it never does.
There is always another project to do. Another family event to attend. Another load of laundry to put in the dryer.
One thing that keeps people stuck in the procrastination cycle is the belief that it is an issue of time management. If they can just find the right productivity tool, they would finish their book in no time.
However, procrastination is more an emotional issue, than a time issue.
If you are putting off writing your book time and time again, it may be time to discover what about your book project is triggering an unpleasant emotion that you want to avoid. Then get the help you need to overcome that trigger.
Some examples of emotional triggers that can cause procrastination are:
• You are writing something that is outside your normal wheelhouse and feel that you don’t have the chops to do it justice. You are avoiding a fear of failure.
• You are writing about something that reminds you of a past trauma or just a sad time in your life. You are avoiding unpleasant emotions such as fear, anger, or even grief.
• You’ve written yourself into a corner and don’t know how to fix it. You are avoiding the fear of having to toss the words you’ve written and start over again (thus wasting the time you spent to get there).
You may not even be aware of these emotions that you are avoiding, that’s why it is worth doing the inner work necessary to discover them. Only when you understand the root cause of your procrastination, can you fix it.
Phew! That was a tough Mind Goblin to vanquish, but you did it! So tomorrow I’ll tackle a lesser Mind Goblin: Lack of focus. This one is also very common, but it is also relatively easy to fix. See you then!
Missed a post in the series? Go here for a link list: https://bit.ly/shortbookpostseries
Want my help with your short book? DM me for details on my Authority Building Short Book Jumpstart being held on April 15. Only 25 slots are available and some are already spoken for.
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