Making Procrastination an Art Form

As a writer, I don’t often have anyone standing over me, pushing me to get a job done. I’m on my own to finish or edit a manuscript, write a post for my blog or an article for my website. My tendency to procrastinate until I have to pull a virtual all-nighter to complete something is constantly at war with my insecurities which insist whatever I manage to commit to the page won’t be good enough anyway.

I’ve learned that the less time I have to get my writing done, the more likely I am to dive in, shut the inner critic’s voice out, and get the job done. I was amazingly productive when I had a 9-5 job. But now that I don’t, I find having some kind of schedule of expectations other than writing does help. I learned the hard way that setting myself arbitrary writing deadlines does not.

The 9-5 Mentality Without the Rut-like Structure

What I finally discovered after almost 3 years of dithering and 3 unfinished novels is that the smartest thing I can do is to replicate the mentality about time I had with my 9-5, but do it on my own terms. This is the single most relevant factor which sent me into the world of Virtual Assistance or, as I prefer to call it, Virtual Business Consulting. By making myself accountable to clients, I give myself real deadlines, and thus, the drive to write when I can.

It also fits my rather unconventional model of a work day which might begin anywhere from 8:00 to 11:00 depending on the day. It leaves room for a meditation mid-day and the day I set aside each week to run errands. Allowing for other things which might come up and need to be managed during normal business hours, I often find myself working late at night while everyone else is sleeping. And there are times when this is actually a better time for me to work as I don’t conflict with a client’s use of email, files and schedules.

But it also means that I have to spend time every week doing things which aren’t truly productive, but are necessary; things like pitching and researching potential clients, educating myself on skills, mindsets and such which will enhance my business, and reading.

A constant push to expand my skill-sets

Reading what, you might ask? And my response has to be “anything and everything”. Because by reading the work of others, be it fiction, non-fiction, memoir or self-help, I broaden my own scope, learn what works and what doesn’t and gain inspiration. In short, my life these days is an endless pursuit of knowledge. As a result, I’m the kid in the candy shop, eyes big as saucers, trying to decide where I want to go next.

It might sound like I’ve created the perfect life, but don’t be fooled. There are times when I can’t find the answer I want or strike out with a client I really wanted to work with or, like this week, have to go back to my coke-bottle-bottom eyeglasses because something is irritating my eyes and making the contacts uncomfortable.

But still I dream and read and work on developing business relationships (which is one of the harder lessons I’ve had to learn as an introvert and self-proclaimed hermit). Talking to people and being sensitive to their needs and challenges is not something which comes naturally to me. It’s not that I don’t care, because I really do, but I come from an era when you had a firm line between your business and personal life. These days, at least as I see it, that line becomes somewhat blurry, especially when working with entrepreneurs.

Inspired and Challenged by the Entrepreneurial Mind

Because their business is all-encompassing, comprised of pursuing their passion, it doesn’t comply with the traditional definition of a business. Understanding that one defining factor leads to the realization that their life and their business are so deeply intertwined that it’s sometimes difficult to see where one ends and the other begins. It’s also why, despite being overwhelmed with too much to do and not enough hours in the day, these same people struggle with trusting someone to handle part of the load for them.

I recently discovered this holds true with some non-profits as well, when the director is emotionally entangled with their cause. Despite the fact that I was donating my time to perform administrative work, the lack of ability to trust someone else with sensitive information forced me to step away after going as far as I could with the work. I can only hope that someone else steps forward who will work out better as the work they’re doing is amazing.

As crazy and unpredictable as my life is these days; as challenging as it can be as I trudge down those roads less traveled, and as tough as it is to forge past the procrastination, the satisfaction I get when things do fall into place is worth the unpredictability and even the rejections. I find a life which has some unexpected twists and turns is highly entertaining and holds my attention far more than doing the same thing day in and day out. Even being at work at the same time each day and leaving at the same time is boring to me. And living as I do, I don’t really think twice about working for a few hours on the weekends. To me, it’s really just another day anyway.

Unpredictability and Portability: A Winning Combination

The biggest and best advantage of all, though, is that my work is so portable. With my laptop and a connection to the internet, I can work from anywhere at any time of day or night. I guess in my own way, I like being a gypsy about my working hours. For anyone who has spent much time reading posts I’ve written, they’ve come to know that my mind doesn’t ever follow a straight path to anywhere. So having to be at a certain place at a certain time 5 days a week felt like trying to squeeze my square peg self into a round hole of someone else’s design.

For now, I’ll continue my lessons on relationship building while continuing to seek the method which works best for me. And I’ll battle my procrastination until it no longer plagues me. There are a lot of people out there writing about living a freelance life, and each of them has experiences to share about what worked and what didn’t. With their help, I’ll soon have the client schedule I’ve dreamed about, and the motivation to get those darn novels finished and published! Wish me luck or better yet, drop me a line and tell me what works for you and what leaves you gnashing your teeth in frustration.

Share Your Thoughts, Triumphs and Tribulations

Does any of this sound familiar? Are you struggling to keep all of the balls in the air while running your own business? I’d love to talk to you about what works and what doesn’t, what tasks you love and which ones you dread. How do you deal with procrastination? What is it you can spend hours doing and never feel like you’re working. And what do you need to do, but facing it is worse than having your teeth drilled? How do you make those things less painful?

Leave a comment or drop me a line at sheri@shericonaway.com.

Feature Photo courtesy of Michael via Flickr