Day 311: Mantra Monday - Be Inspired... But Show Up and Get the Work Done!

... But Show Up and Get The Work Done!

Sometimes it feels impossible to just sit down at my desk and make progress on my dissertation (or fellowship applications... or my unending email backlog... or - gasp! - blog posts...).  The truth is, I've had a bad habit of procrastinating for as long as I've had responsibilities. I know no easy cure.  Procrastination means feeling obsessive urges to clean my kitchen before I can write a sentence.  It means "needing" to organize my closet before I can my second sentence. It means playing games of solitaire between every completed paragraph of a 20-page paper (I'm not kidding).  It means feeling anxious often.   Like a lot of creative types, I wax poetic about needing "inspiration."  Often, it doesn't show up, so I get "inspired" by looming deadlines.  All-nighters ensue, and I end up needing days to recover.

Back in high school and college this process felt kind of romantic and special.  Emergency deadlines made life exciting, and I wasn't even jealous of those folks who ran their races the "slow-and-steady" way (how boring!)  But these days putting things off just makes me feel immature (while procrastinating) and then as though I've aged rapidly and painfully (when recovering from said procrastinating).

The good news is that I've improved dramatically since college.  Instead of being motivated only by the "stick" of looming deadlines, I occasionally move towards the "carrot"of feeling sane, productive, and well-rested.  I've also abandoned the myth that I work "best" under pressure, because I don't.  Instead, I know that I write best when I'm feeling positive and confident, and when I regularly set small, achievable goals (and then accomplish them).  Even knowing these things, I still struggle with procrastination.

I recently found myself on a website offering advice on "how to overcome procrastination" (I should have been working... ironic, eh?).  I read this quote and found it compelling (perhaps even... inspiring!):

I think Mr. Close (a painter - I googled) has a good point.  Waiting for some kind of phone-call-from-The-Almighty each workday is foolhardy at best, egomaniacal at worst.  I agree with Woody Allen's similar insistence that "80 percent of life is just showing up."   Yet I'm still not anti-inspiration.  The truth is that I could never work on anything that didn't, itself, inspire me.  That's not something I'll ever give up, but it's a truth I need to take more seriously during those times when I feel stuck.   I fundamentally believe that the questions I ask in my research are important and interesting.  I believe even more strongly that teaching has the potential to change my students' lives (well, when I'm lucky enough to have a teaching position anyway) .  Finally, blogging makes writing FUN! (How's THAT for inspiring?)  So, this week, I'm determined to not wait for inspiration to "strike." but to instead to focus on what I KNOW inspires me....  To "be inspired" .... but then "show up and get the work done."

Anybody else out there battled procrastination? If so... share tips!  Or share your pain.  Feel free procrastinate on whatever you "should" be doing, by commenting on my blog.  :)

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