Hejhej! 

 

So, lately I've been thinking a lot about inspiration. Not about how to best attain inspiration or what to do when experiencing a lack of it, but about how the idea if inspiration can actually block productivity and make it harder to get things done.

 

I've realised that much of my procrastination is rooted in the idea of inspiration. I can wait until I "feel inspired" to write a blog post, send that e-mail, make plans, answer texts, go for a walk, have breakfast... I can put off basically ANYTHING because surely, "later" there will be a better time to do it. A time where can do it better because I am more creative or more well-rested. Maybe later I will know more, feel better AND feel inspired to get the task done. 

 

Time and time again I have proven to myself that "later" is rarely a better time. In fact, "later" seldom comes before "panic" or "deadline" or "mental breakdown". I have so many ideas and visions about things I want to do and accomplish. How do I bring myself to actually do them? How can I stop waiting for inspiration?

 

 

• Break the task down into smaller steps
  
  It's easy to get overwhelmed when you look at the entire task (for example, reading these three textbook chapters before Monday, or writing a 2000-word essay). But if think about it in terms of smaller steps (reading these pages, writing the introduction) it is much more managable. I've found that altering my thinking and focusing on one thing at a time really brings down my stress level.
  
  
• It doesn't have to be perfect 
  
  Some people might see tendencies to procrastinate wait for inspiration as signs of laziness. I disagree! For me, it definitely boils down to me wanting to do things as well as humanly possible. And if, in my mind, I can do it better in the future than I can right now then it totally makes sense to wait! Right? 
  
  
• It's better to do something now than everything later
  
  This perfectionist-trait came with a bad habit of wanting everything to come out right straight away. I didn't want to have to write and re-write my essays/e-mails/poems/posts dozens of times, I'd rather just come up with the perfect wording right away. I didn't realise that by doing things over, changing and altering them many many times, I was actually improving the quality of whatever I was doing. My "all or nothing" approach pretty much lead me into situations where I HAD to do everything right the first time (like starting assignments way to close to the deadline... we've all been there). Now, I make sure to allow myself time to go over the task more than one time! I start out somewhere, knowing that I will have to go back and change it later anyway.
  
  
• Doing creates Inspiration, not the other way around
  
  I've found that once I've started doing something, once I've forced myself to take the first small, not-perfect steps... Inspiration has followed! You know, this thing they call "flow"? It's seriously one of my favorite feelings! There is something very satisfying about being so caught up in whatever you're doing that everything else kind of fades. This flow never comes out of nowhere though. It takes some time trembling, trying and forcing yourself before it strikes. 
  
  
• Shut up and praise yourself
  
  It's easier said than done, but I really believe that it is SO IMPORTANT to be kind to yourself. Pat yourself on the back when you've sat down with your assigned reading, even if you only managed to read ten pages this sitting. Shut yourself up whenever negative self-talk is clouding your mind because it does not help. I know it's hard but it is so important to consciously direct your thoughts to a more positive place. You'd never talk to your best friend the way you talk to yourself, would you?