The Procrastinator’s Guide to Progress, by Shawn Blanc
Procrastination is one of those words that is difficult to translate to other languages. The English definition for the verb to procrastinate is to delay or postpone action; put off doing something. It is the verb of the defeated1.
When I come to the keyboard to begin writing, a million potential distractions stand at my doorstep. There are many days when I’d rather give in to one of the distractions instead of doing my writing. But I choose not to. I write when I’m tired. I write when I’m uninspired. I write when the weather outside is beautiful. I write when I’m not even sure what to write about.
A few weeks ago, Shawn Blanc started an email newsletter about creativity, focus, and risk called The Fight Spot. Shawn has put all the procrastination-centric content published in his newsletter in a document called The Procrastinator’s Guide to Progress. You can get it for free by subscribing to The Fight Spot newsletter.
(…) there are many ways to beat procrastination. But if I had to boil it all down to just one piece of advice — the first step toward beating procrastination in terms of doing something else instead of making and creating — I would say this:
Show up every day.
As in, carve out 30–60 minutes in your day. Every day. Make an appointment with yourself for when you’re going to create. Be it writing, playing music, painting, drawing, photography, or whatever it is you’re trying to create for the world.
Make that appointment and keep it. And when you’re there, put your phone on Do Not Disturb mode. Get earplugs or headphones. Go somewhere you won’t be distracted. Whatever it takes so you can spend the whole of your time making.