My hand pauses on the doorknob. Procrastination bubbles to the surface. I don't have to do this today; I can wait until tomorrow. I nod in agreement with myself. I didn't tell anyone where I was going. Tomorrow will be a better day to do this.
"What are you, chicken?" a voice deep inside me bellows. "It's always tomorrow with you, isn't it?" I am still paused with my hand on the well worn knob. "If you truly look at it, this is yesterday's tomorrow. Pull the door open, would you?"
I take a deep breath and pull. The door opens to a gymnasium and arranged center court sit 12 gray metal folding chairs in a circle. The gentleman with the clipboard looks up before I can escape. "Welcome. I'm glad you finally came."
Eyebrows raised, I point at myself.
"Yes, you. I've been waiting for you. I am always waiting for procrastinators, but they seldom find the right tomorrow. Won't you take a seat?" He motioned to the 11 empty chairs. "I believe you'll be the first member of Procrastinator's Anonymous."
WHERE IS PROCRASTINATOR'S ANONYMOUS
Unlike support groups for other maladies like alcoholism, drug abuse, and over-eaters, procrastinators rarely catch up to tomorrow. They wait for tomorrow to set goals, accomplish tasks, start something new.
What causes procrastination? At least for me, I think procrastination comes from fear of the unknown and fear of failure as well as from a lack of self-confidence.
At first, I thought having an empty house for the better part of every two weeks would be a blessing. I could write. I could clean. I could grade. I could write. I could write.
It has now been almost three years since my husband began a career as an over the road trucker, but I have accomplished little with writing (or in cleaning for that matter).
THE CHALLENGE
It has taken my husband, who listens to book radio, to challenge me out of my procrastination. Although there is no support group for procrastination, my husband has listened to many author interviews. What he has gotten out of these interviews is that I need to be like the professional writers who set writing goals for themselves.
His goal for me is to write 2,000 words a day. It doesn't matter if those words are part of a novel I have talked incessantly about, a short story, or just to write whatever comes to my head, but I MUST WRITE 2,000 WORDS A DAY.
Have I started? I sure have. I haven't hit the goal yet, but I am working toward it. At least I have my backside in my desk chair and I am striking keys that will put words on the page.
No comments:
Post a Comment