A Procrastinator's Battle: What if You Fly?

Last week, we talked about one thing that drives procrastination: fear. Today, we're going to expand upon that a little more, and talk about how we can use that knowledge to procrastinate less. Because it's all well and good to know what causes us to procrastinate, but that doesn't necessarily stop it.

Also - I'm sharing some of my writing! Savannah, over at Scattered Scribblings, is featuring a short story I wrote last fall for a writing contest she hosted. She is such a sweet, amazing person and has a gorgeous blog, so you should totally go check it out!

We've talked about fear that keeps you from acting, and there's a poem I found a while ago that I think describes this quite well. The poet "e.h.," or Erin Hansen, has a way with words - her works are breathtaking, and they can really make you think. And this one goes:

There is freedom waiting for you

On the breezes of the sky

And you ask "What if I fall?" 

Oh but my darling, 

What if you fly? 

What if I fall? That is a question I ask myself so many times, in so many ways. It's one of the many disguises that the monster Self-Doubt wears. "What if I can't?" "It looks too hard." "I'm not ready." "What will they think of me?" "What if I fail?" 

This fear is so powerful that it leaves me paralyzed. I’m on the edge of a cliff, and I can’t decide if I want to commit to jumping into the wind. Instead, I just let the minutes tick away, let time pass until it won’t matter anymore. I'm putting off a decision. I'm procrastinating.

Because in the end, even not closing to act has its consequences, and I have to make a decision one way or another. Action or inaction. Now or later.

I can stay still. I can watch the wind, and wonder, and put off jumping for another few days. And do exactly nothing. Because staying paralyzed means taking no chances. It’s playing it safe, but safe means never changing, not doing anything.

Or I can jump. 

And I know that there’s always the chance I might fall, mybody plummeting towards the bottom of the chasm and hitting the ground with a sick crash. Maybe I’ll float, slowly sinking lower and lower until I stumble onto the ground and collapse. But if I do fall, I’ll pick myself off and I'll climb up the cliff and start over, having learned a few things. Because the fall won't kill me.

But maybe I'll fly, spreading wings I didn't know I had. Soaring in the air and looking down at the land below like a bird. But if I don’t jump, I’ll never know that I even had wings to fly with. I’d never give myself the chance to try. And I’d never be able to know how wonderful it to soar in the sky.

With that being said, how do you battle procrastination? Knowing your adversary is all well and good, but how do you overcome it? 

Confront your fear. Why are you procrastinating - what specifically are you afraid of? And once you answer that question, ask yourself what is the absolute worst that can happen? Often, it's something that you can deal with, or something that you deep down know will not be so bad. Defining your fear can have 

Get others to hold you accountable. It's not uncommon for my sister and I ask each other "Hey, are you working?" during the day. Sometimes, we'll hold things captive - such as books or tablets - so that certain distractions are out of the way. Other times, I'll ask her to check up on me every so often, just to ask "What are you doing?" Knowing that someone is watching me helps to stay on track. 

On a similar note - work with someone else. Recently, I went to the library to work and unexpectedly saw a friend. We talked, and I sat down across from them. And even though they couldn't seen what was on my screen, I noticed a huge change in my work. I was able to get the rest of my schoolwork for the day done in an hour because I was motivated to be serious, because someone else was there. 

Change your environment. Move from the couch in the living room to table in the kitchen. Go to a cafe or the library and set up shop there. The same distractions are available when you stick to the same areas - and changing it up can send a signal to your brain that "Oh - it's time to get serious." 

Get the hard things out of the way first. That way, you can't drag your feet at the end of the day because It's late I need to sleep I can do it tomorrow right? Wrong. Plan that hard phone call in the morning, before anything else. Work on that tough outline first, and then you can move on to your other, easier work. Which brings me to - 

Reward yourself. Finish one more difficult government questions, and you get a chapter of Harry Potter. Write five hundred new words, and you can goof off for five minutes. Sometimes, I'll have a cycle - fifteen minutes of writing, fifteen minutes of school, one chapter of a book - that keeps me refreshed enough to keep going through a few different tasks. Feel free to reward yourself for getting hard work done! 

And lastly, most importantly, forgive yourself. Don't beat yourself up for failing to do a few tasks. Take a few deep breaths, smile, and say to yourself "Hey, it's all right." Being angry because you couldn't get it done will only stress you out even more. Sometimes we don't get everything done - and that's fine. Your worth is not defined by what you did or what you can do.

I hope that this post helped you to fight procrastination. I would love to hear your opinion on all of this. How do you battle procrastination? Let me know in the comments!