It is bitterly cold here in Toronto
this morning, the type of cold where you can see your breath when you breathe. It’s
-9°C outside (feels
like -17°C), and
even though the official start of winter is still weeks away, fall has
graciously given way to winter.
And like the ground that begins
to freeze, become solid and impenetrable due to the cold winter temperatures, I,
too, am frozen. Actually, I’m caught (again) in a debilitating restlessness,
and doing my best to break free.
I’ve been struggling lately to
focus, to edge myself and my writing projects forward. I’ve let anything and
everything — TV, my day
job, the Rob Ford Saga, cleaning, cooking — distract me. And because of those “distractions,”
my writing projects remained in limbo. I felt guilty and ashamed because,
suddenly and unexpectedly, I became a master of procrastination. I didn’t know
how to move forward. I didn’t know how to get back on the horse again.
Then, during my recent visit to Saskatoon, I was once again
wasting time surfing the internet when I came across Dennis Crosby’s Becoming the 1%. A quick read with some
helpful insights, I felt empowered again. I wanted to take back control, be
more productive … finish something. So I decided to try, one more time, setting
goals.
So I set a very specific goal with regard to a manuscript
that I’ve been trying to read through for the past two months. My new goal? To complete
the read-through of the manuscript by 31 December 2013. That seemed like a
realistic (S.M.A.R.T.) goal since I only had eight chapters left to review. When
I turned off the TV, stopped surfing the internet, left the apartment to write
in a coffee shop — quieted my mind and set to work — something marvellous
happened. My productivity shot up, and yesterday I completed the review of the
manuscript, and made all the necessary corrections.
I’m trying to hang on to that momentum because finishing
something oftentimes leads to a period where I feel stuck. How do I move
forward? What’s next? Will I have the courage to take the necessary next step,
especially when that next step is making submissions? Time will tell.
I’m working hard to create new habits, get back into a
certain routine — to not let procrastination reign over me. I’m hopeful that goal-setting
will help keep me focused, stay the course. All I can do is take it one day at
a time.
Good luck! I have to deal with the procrastination bug myself. You can do it!
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