You know you shouldn’t, but can’t help yourself. It’s seducing you. It’s nagging at your mind, clawing at your curiosity and stalking your thoughts, driving you crazy. It’s like a drug and you can’t stop. You can feel it changing the course of any intention you had of working. You try to resist but the desire is too strong. It’s something you have to do. So eventually … you give in. Now you’re updating your status, replying to messages and birthdays, maybe playing games, and wasting your time scrolling through your so-called friends’ activities so that you’re in the loop at the next social gathering. Is it worth it?
Breaking News: A writer’s dreams are dashed, when he gives in to temptation, succumbing to that fatal distraction.
It’s normal to have things that get in your way before you can write. Usually, we need optimal conditions or surroundings before we can get into that headspace to create, right? Firstly we must check emails, tidy up, make a call, watch that movie, do the shopping, bake that cake, maybe have something to eat, oh, and coffee, don’t forget that, yes, but the weather is too hot and I can’t concentrate, or it’s too cold that I need to snuggle in bed to warm up, okay, now I’m ready, oh no, look at the time, I have to pick up the kids, take them to their activities, help with their homework, organise dinner, unwind for a bit, and then if I’m not too tired I will begin, nah, forget about it, I’ll work twice as hard and do twice as much tomorrow.
Sound familiar?
Remember, there are want to be writers and there are wanna be writers. The difference is: writers write and everybody else forever wants to write. If you want to be a writer then write. Set yourself a schedule that works for you. Announce to all when you are not available. Turn on the answering machine, place a do not disturb sign on your door, and take care of chores and duties before or after your allocated writing time. Do what it takes to write. Stay true to what you want and the goals you have set—avoid that Fatal Distraction. It never goes away.
Tell me how you deal with your daily distractions?
Procrastination: the writer’s default position. And when it involves countless cups of coffee, it’s referred to as procaffeination!