Most of my clients are very successful in many areas of their lives and yet they procrastinate about writing. They tell me that they get things done in the lab or for assignments and yet not for their writing until the deadline is looming and they are then under pressure and do not create their best work.
This leads to confusion and questioning: Why can’t I get myself together around writing? Why is writing so hard for me when I am clearly capable in other areas of my life? Is there something wrong here? Is there something wrong with me?
Let me tell you something very important: there is nothing wrong with you.
So the question becomes – What’s different about writing? Well, here’s what I’ve found is different about writing compared to other academic tasks:
- We get quiet and still when we write. This allows all the thoughts and feelings we have been avoiding to come up.
- Writing is often for ourselves. It’s often easier to do for others than to do for ourselves and sometimes no one else is driving our writing forward but us.
- There’s often a perceived pressure to do well associated with writing whether it’s from the reviewers, advisor, or editors of a journal.
- Writing often feels unstructured and questions like – how long is this going to take me or when I am going to do this come up.
- Writing often feels mountainous and completion unattainable vs. writing an email to a colleague or checking a smaller task off the to do list.
There are tips and tricks that can make writing easier to fool these parts of us into ignoring the thoughts and feelings, pretending like it’s for someone else, removing the pressure, creating structures to support us and breaking our writing projects into smaller pieces.
You may be feeling like you have tried all these things and it’s not working; writing is still hard. Are you a successful academic procrastinating about writing? Are you tired of “tips and tricks” and “quick fixes” that don’t last and you are seeking sustainable change for yourself?
Through the work I do together with my clients, they receive powerful coaching that provides the accountability and support that’s required for sustainable change.
If you are ready to do something differently and create change for yourself around your relationship with writing, I encourage you to email me at support@melissaeanders.com for your complimentary, one-hour Discovery Call. This call is a powerful coaching call where we look at what’s happening for you and what you would like to be experiencing instead so that you can discover how to move forward in changing your relationship with writing.
Melissa E Anders 