Are You Avoiding Work?
We’ve all done it. There is an assignment that is due in a few days or a few weeks, and we don’t do it. Just when we go to sit down and complete it, we get up again to finish really pressing chores. You know, like dusting the ceiling fans or cleaning the oven. Hugely important activities.
I was doing this type of avoidance just the other day. I had an ebook to compile, edit, and ghostwrite, but was I doing it? Nope. Every time I sat down to do it I remembered yet another chore that needed to be done. My house has never looked so good before or since.
When you start playing the avoidance dance, do what I eventually had to do. Sit down and ask yourself what the problem is. Why are you avoiding the project? Wait for the answer. For me, this was the first self help book I was ghostwriting, and I wasn’t sure I was going to do a good job. I was procrastinating to give myself a reason to fail. If the client didn’t like the ebook I wrote, I could say ‘Well, that’s because I didn’t have enough time to do it,’ instead of ‘My writing sucks.’
And that was the real problem. I didn’t want my writing to suck. Being a writer, I generally suspect it does suck, deep down. Once I had this piece of information I could ask myself the next question.
What is the worst that can happen if I complete the assignment? In my case, the worst is that the client would hate my best effort and I would be forced to give the money back. She would give me a bad review, and no one else would hire me ever again.
Once I thought this out, I could see how illogical it was. Now it was time for the last question. How likely is this to occur? In my case, not very likely. The client spent a lot of time looking through my portfolio—she even found some of my old published creative work on the web. Clearly, she knew my writing style and liked it. That is why she hired me. Therefore, she would probably like what I did with her ebook.
Once I made this connection I was able to complete the assignment. I didn’t feel the need to do any more chores. And you know what? The client did like the ebook.
Distraction is just another way to avoid completing things we fear. Instead of chiding yourself for lacking focus and self discipline, find out what’s eating you. That will make your productivity soar.