by Jenna | Feb 20, 2025 | ScriptMag Articles
In this month’s “Ask the Coach” article, I’m responding to a writer about overcoming procrastination and dealing with self-criticism:
“I need to overcome my procrastination. I am trying to write a screenplay, with a proposal, for a funding opportunity. I had experience in short-filmmaking. But this is my first feature-length script. I have been trying to write a feature-length script for years. I need help to find a way to put myself to write while resisting the non-stop self-criticism of my ability and self-worth, as well as the sense of guilt after wasting time on social media. If you could share some insight into how to tackle these problems, I would be most grateful.”
In the main article, my reply explored the primary issues of procrastination and self-criticism and provided some thoughts on how this writer can shift their experience.
Here’s a list of the seven strategies discussed in the article:
- Recognize what’s really going on when we procrastinate.
- Calm the fears by changing the way you talk to yourself.
- Reframe the “stepping up” aspect of what you’re asking of yourself.
- Choose productive procrastination instead.
- Relegate social media to non-writing parts of the day.
- Save binge-watching as a reward for writing.
- Start small with writing.
Give yourself the gift of going for it and enjoying the ride, even the hard and scary parts. This is part of shifting your perspective to help the scared part of you see writing as something that might even be — dare we say it — fun.
Want the full scoop? Get all the details in the full article on Script Mag:
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by Jenna | Apr 19, 2024 | ScriptMag Articles
In this month’s “Ask the Coach” article, I’m responding to a question from a reader about managing procrastination.
Dear Jenna, I struggle with procrastination and getting started writing. I want to write, but each day I wrestle with myself to get started. When I do finally get around to writing, I feel so much better. But I hate all the time I’m wasting. What can I do to get myself to work faster?
First, you’re not alone. Many writers struggle with procrastination, if not all, at least at some point in their writing lives.
Procrastination is one of the many ways fear manifests for writers, along with perfectionism, paralysis, self-doubt, negative self-esteem, and more. These are all forms of writing “resistance,” which is an oppositional force artists, writers, creatives, and entrepreneurs face. It works hard to keep us “safe” from taking risks, usually based on past and childhood experiences that have taught us to avoid certain kinds of exposure or self-expression. Procrastination — putting off doing the work — is a way of managing the fear and anxiety we feel.
Unfortunately, procrastination is like a band-aid on top of an infected wound. Because procrastinating doesn’t resolve the underlying anxiety or fear, it simply delays it. If anything, even while procrastinating, we’re still walking around with a (low, sometimes) level of fear and anxiety.
The beautiful thing is that writing is the ultimate cure-all for the fear once we can get ourselves to take the actions and do the work.
In my response, I discuss ten strategies for dealing with procrastination:
- Tell yourself you only have to write for X minutes.
- Find a deadline or goal for your work.
- Reverse-engineer a timeline.
- Give yourself permission to start over.
- Write early or late.
- Focus on showing up.
- “Find” writing.
- Trust your inner voice.
- Focus on how you feel when you’ve written.
- Recognize the underlying fear.
When you’re struggling to write, remind yourself how good you feel when you’re engaged with the purely creative act and process of writing, regardless of the outcome or result.
Want the full scoop? Get all the details in the full article on Script Mag:
by Jenna | Oct 22, 2022 | ScriptMag Articles
In this month's "Ask the Coach" article, I’m responding to a comment on Twitter about handling procrastination. This is a topic I never tire of talking about with writers because it's so relevant and important to understand and navigate. Plus, I've recently reviewed some newer (and empowering) research about procrastination, which I've shared in the article.
In the article, I review five high-level reasons writers procrastinate to help us unpack this common struggle. I describe each reason more fully in the article, but here's the core overview:
- We procrastinate because we’re afraid.
- We procrastinate because writing matters to us.
- We procrastinate to manage challenging emotions. 👈 the newer part!
- We procrastinate to get dopamine hits.
- We procrastinate to process intuition and information.
With this understanding of why we procrastinate, I also offer ways we can manage procrastination, including rewriting negative thoughts, creating community and support around writing with other writers, using deadlines and other external motivations, and more.
The bottom line is that we procrastinate for very real reasons.
by Jenna | Jul 26, 2017 | Writing Articles
Last week I shared Part I of this post about the many faces of procrastination, and the underlying reasons it shows up. It's not necessarily "just" writer's block or laziness, which are the common explanations I hear.
There are actually a number of variations on the theme of procrastination, and it's usually driven by something deeper, like feeling stuck, being overwhelmed, being hooked by perfectionism, or wrestling with past creative wounds that need addressing -- some of the examples I wrote about last week.
Let's look at a few more of these writing-stoppers that show up as procrastination.
You're creatively confused.
Creative confusion is one of the most fascinating causes for procrastination I've come across (perhaps because it's one of my personal "favorites"). Creative confusion will have you spinning in circles, not sure which direction to go with your story, considering multiple ideas and perspectives, and feeling unable to decide among them. It's as if everything suddenly has equal value and there's no differentiating them.
Part of the issue here is empowerment. When you forget that you're the architect of your story and that there's not necessarily a "right" way to write it, it's easy to get confused. Confusion can also be a smokescreen for the fear that you'll get it "wrong."
Antidotes: Make the shift into action by being willing to do the work of sorting through your ideas by putting them on paper and evaluating them as objectively as you can. One of the ways creative confusion keeps you stuck is that it all happens very quickly in your head. Get it down, and figure it out. And remember that you're the one in charge. It can also be helpful to talk it through with a trusted coach or writing pal who has your story's best interests at heart (not her ideas for what you "should" do).
You're feeling apathetic about your book (or script).
Creative boredom or apathy is another one of these super tricksters that can keep you locked into procrastination. You don't write because it feels like you've "just lost interest" in your story. Interestingly, this usually happens when you've just hit (or are about to hit) a major milestone with your story, or you're about to tackle the next stage. What's happening here is that a new level of fear is cropping up and putting the brakes on to minimize your risks of failure.
In other words, it ain't about the story.
Antidotes: Keep on keeping on. The only way out is through. While there may be passages in your book that are need work, that's a storytelling problem, not "time to give up on the whole project" problem. This is the place to commit to finishing, no matter what.
This is also a great time to remind yourself of your Why for the project -- why you started writing it in the first place. Sometimes just tracking back to the Why will be enough to get you in action again.
You're having trouble deciding which book to write.
This kind of procrastination turns up when you know you want to write or feel ready to write but you can't decide which story to work on, or you decide on one, only to change your mind in short order, usually telling yourself it's not good enough in some way, then look around for something else to work on, only to dismiss that one too. And the next one after that.
This kind of procrastination can also look like coming up with a bazillion ideas to work with but not being able to choose among them.
Antidotes: Check out my free downloadable guide about how to choose your next book (or script) using decision criteria and intuitive decision-making skills. You can also try one of my favorite bits of Steven Pressfield's wisdom, which is to "figure out what scares you the most, and do that first."
(If, on the other hand, you're totally drawing a blank for any ideas at all, try Elizabeth Gilbert's approach of paying attention to your faintest whispers of curiosity and see where they lead you.)
You've fallen out of the habit of writing and each day that goes by, it gets harder to restart.
If your writing practice has fallen apart -- for whatever reason -- procrastination has taken hold and it's just not getting any better. Each day you tell yourself you're going to write, but find endless distractions around the house, get caught up in work (or TV or candy crush!), tasks to take care of, or toilets to clean. This is "garden variety" procrastination in my book, but it's still a doozy.
Antidotes: Set a very small writing goal and meet it. Then do it again the next day. And the next. Keep going until you have the practice in place. Troubleshoot any obstacles that come up -- like falling into reading email or getting sucked into other tasks -- and find ways to streamline your path to your writing desk each day. If you set a goal, and you're still procrastinating, make the goal smaller until you actually do it. Get accountability to help you with this if you need it. (Work with me 1:1, for example.)
You're dealing with big personal changes.
Look, sometimes big life events happen and the idea of tackling writing at the same time feels (and may even be) impossible. Major illnesses, weddings, new romances, births, deaths, break ups, divorces, moves, and job changes are life changes that can get in the way of writing and then morph into "regular" procrastination even once the dust has settled. It's okay. It happens. But it's helpful to know how to deal with it when a big part of your identity is tied into being a writer and you start losing your sense of self while it's all happening, and then wonder who you are when it's done.
Antidotes: Be patient with yourself during the upheaval, and give yourself a little time for re-entry. You may want to have a "maintenance practice" of writing morning pages in place during these times, even as a placeholder until you can get back to your book or script writing efforts. Have a plan in place for how and when you'll reboot your writing once you've made it through the thick of the experience. If you find yourself still struggling with your identity after the fact, do some journaling or coaching work to help get you back in touch with yourself as a writer.
You're an adrenaline addict.
One of the most fascinating parlor tricks I see writers engaging in is creating an endless series of non-writing emergencies, deadlines, and disasters that make it impossible to write. This is procrastination at its peak form, because it becomes inarguable. Whatever "it" is, has become such an emergency, that it has to be done right now. At this point, it actually does. But when a writer lives this way, chasing from disaster to disaster, writing always gets to stay (safely) at the bottom of the pile.
The trickiest trick of all is that the purveyor of these hijinks deep down revels in the sense of excitement and in being the rescuer of the situation from certain doom. It turns out, writers who do this to themselves are addicted to the rush of it all, and they'll even design it so they "get" to write this way too (at the last minute, in a mad panicked rush).
This strategy does two things. It's a brilliant way of getting off the hook for doing your best work, because you simply can't, not with all those emergencies to take care of. It's also very clever way of getting an adrenaline boost of energy to face the terror of writing.
Antidotes: Admit the addiction. Make a conscious choice to stop this behavior. Learn to pace yourself -- with everything, including your writing -- and get ruthless about cutting out anything and everything you don't have to do. You don't have to do everything and you don't have to do it all perfectly. Cut some corners!
You're just plain tired.
Maybe you're not exhausted, but "just" tired. Maybe you haven't reached the point of creative burnout, like I mentioned last week, but maybe you have other non-writing commitments that tax you. Some of these are avoidable (volunteering for committees) and some are not (having little kids or an aging parent), but either way you're tired. This tiredness becomes an excellent excuse for procrastinating. "I'm tired," you say. "I just don't have it in me today to write. I'll do it tomorrow."
Antidotes: I've always loved the quote from David Whyte on this subject, “You know that the antidote to exhaustion is not necessarily rest? … The antidote to exhaustion is wholeheartedness.” When it comes to the daily sort of tiredness that can leave us feeling run down (as opposed to massively burned out), writing regularly -- even just in small amounts -- is often the cure. Also, take a look at how you're investing your precious life energy and see where there might be energy leaks you can shore up. Look for where you're not feeling a "Hell, yes!" about the things you've committed to and think about letting them go. Work with a friend or coach to inventory your commitments and see what you can release for someone else to handle.
Photo by Igor Ovsyannykov on Unsplash
by Jenna | Jul 19, 2017 | Writing Articles
When I work with writers to help them stop procrastinating, usually they don't quite know why they're doing it. They often end up labeling it as laziness or writer's block. I can tell you that I've never met a truly lazy writer, and while I certainly have met some who are blocked, sometimes a little delving is required to uncover the deeper issues that are stopping them from writing.
Let's talk about the spectrum of writing-stoppers that show up as procrastination.
You're stuck.
You might find yourself procrastinating when you're stuck. Maybe you've hit a section you aren't sure how to deal with, or you need to rewrite some or all of your draft but you're not sure where to start, so you just... don't. This stuckness doesn't take long to turn into procrastination, and soon, to full on avoidance.
Antidotes: Sometimes when you're stuck, you need help to get going again. A plot coach or a writing friend often comes in handy here. Alternatively, you might want to write about the writing -- this is a great time for some journaling and brainstorming to unlock your writing energy and ideas.
You're overwhelmed.
Sometimes the sheer volume of work facing you will cause you to procrastinate. When you're looking at a mountain, it's hard not to feel the weight of it bearing down on you.
Antidotes: The antidote for overwhelm is to find one small step to take. In other words, what's the first thing you can think of, no matter how small, that you know you can do now? Then do the next thing. This is a great time to pick easy things to do too, because when you're feeling overwhelmed, easy makes it doable. Sometimes I'll just work on formatting for a bit to get myself back into the project, no matter how fiddly it is. No step forward is too small.
You've been hooked by perfectionism.
When you get stuck in believing that you must make your writing perfect or get caught up in visions of this being your biggest hit ever, you'll be triggering procrastination faster than you might believe. Perfectionism, procrastination, and paralysis work together to create a vicious cycle that keeps you from writing, ever. Perfectionism is funny way of staying safe too, because if you don't write it, you don't have to see it being flawed and imperfect, nor can you be ridiculed for it.
Antidotes: Make peace with being an imperfect human being who values writing and finishing more than telling yourself whoppers about incredible success or massive failure that hold you back. Embrace the notion that only the divine is perfect, and decide that messy and done is so much better than not writing.
Your inner critic is freaking out.
When the voice of your inner critic starts getting loud and scary, it's hard to keep writing, especially if you listen to it as if it's the voice of truth and reason, rather than simply a terrified guard dog it trying to keep you safe. Also note that this voice will get louder and scarier the closer you are to the precipice of taking action, finishing a draft, or moving into a new level of your career. If those aren't reasons to procrastinate, I don't know what is!
Antidotes: First, pat your inner critic on the head and tell him/her that you're going to take care of everything, you got this, and you don't need any help protecting yourself. Then, one by one, rewrite the negative self-messages that swirl through your mind while you're writing into positive, believable statements. Having a coach or witness for this work helps it land more deeply and take root in your psyche in a positive way.
You've gotten feedback on your work and it's affecting you.
Good feedback, bad feedback. Feedback period. All feedback affects us. It's an energetic shock to the system that's hard to absorb. We've been tenderly entwined with our beloved writing only to have it held at arm's length by a stranger who cooly evaluates it. The stun from this can send you into a tailspin. And good feedback? Glowing feedback on your early chapters? That can be a recipe for triggering perfectionism and the anti-creativity cycle too, because suddenly you have to measure up to your existing work and you might not believe you can.
Antidotes: After giving yourself some time to recover from getting the feedback, take a deep, deep breath. Remind yourself who is in charge. (That would be you.) Evaluate the feedback as cooly as it evaluates your book. What do you agree with? Use that. What do you disagree with? Throw it out or save it for later re-evaluation.
You're deeply exhausted and you're self-protecting.
Sometimes you may procrastinate because you're actually deeply tired or burned out, and reflexively protecting yourself from overextending. This may be the result of binge writing, pushing to meet deadline after deadline, or from being exhausted by a non-writing life circumstance.
Antidotes: Rest. Write for the love of it, if you're called to do so, but make it easy, like journaling, and give yourself some time to recover. You will feel the call to write again. Trust me.
You're dealing with a creative wound that needs addressing.
When you're not writing... and not writing... and not writing... and it's just going on forever, sometimes there are deeper creative wounds that have gotten triggered and need addressing. Like that time you were ridiculed for daring to make art and express yourself creatively. Or how you were raised in a family culture that taught you that writing would never pay your bills and you were a fool if you pursued it. Or the scathing feedback you received from someone you deeply loved. Events like these leave open wounds in our psyches, like ghosts in the machine.
Antidotes: Revisit the events in a safe way (such as through visualization or journaling) so you can find the truth in the experience from a broader spiritual perspective. From there, you'll be able to begin to find forgiveness for yourself and peace with the experience. Often these experiences happen to us when we are young, and having our more mature perspective helps us begin to shift how we feel about it now. While you can do this work on your own, working with a coach or witness who can hold a safe space while you're processing what happened can accelerate your growth and ability to move past the pain.
And there's more...
There are many more underlying reasons for procrastination, including creative apathy, confusion, adrenaline addictions, and more. Read Part II, here.
Photo by Igor Ovsyannykov on Unsplash
