What Are You Putting Off and Why?

Back to school season always puts me in mind of new beginnings, sort of like a second New Year’s. In part that’s because my birthday is at the end of August, so I always seem to be doing a bit of looking back and looking ahead at this time of year.

What’s Gotten Done?

It’s important to start any assessment of this sort by looking at the positive; things you’ve gotten done over the past year (or half year) that you are happy with and proud of. For me, that’s this website, which came to life earlier this year.

Another big plus is that I’m about to have my first child; that’s a pretty major accomplishment in any year.

I’ve done some priority shifting because of that and feel like I have a little more flexibility while still being able to make a somewhat comfortable living while taking care of my little one (that’s the plan, anyway — made easier by the fact that all of the grandparents also live in town).

What Hasn’t Gotten Done?

There are several big things still on the to do list that I wish had gotten done already. I wanted to send out a book proposal or two before the little one got here, because I’m not sure I’ll take the time to do it right away after she’s born.

And I have this ebook for you guys that should have been done a long time ago that’s still percolating in notebooks and on my computer. I’m making more progress on it lately than I have for a long time, but I know it should by all rights be done already and out there in the world helping people.

Of course there’s an endless list of things I mean to get done before the baby arrives that haven’t yet been accomplished, but that’s for another website, I think.

What’s Holding You Back?

Now we get to the heart of the matter, why you are putting off the things that you are putting off. What’s holding you back? Why are you feeling resistance in getting these things done?

Maybe your things are smaller than my things. Maybe you’re resisting sending a query or returning an e-mail you know you should be doing. Or maybe your big things feel just as big if not bigger than my big things. Either way, there’s something that’s keeping you from doing them.

My major form of resistance is always a fear of failure. That’s why no book proposals have gone out and why that ebook sits mostly finished but still not done. I’m afraid to spend all the time it takes on such a thing and then have it not find the right audience.

(Yes, I’m a professional. I’ve had to face a lot of rejection, and I know it’s not the end of the world. I have a lot of confidence in my work in a lot of ways, but I still have problems to work through like everyone else.)

Understanding that fear doesn’t make it much easier to overcome, or I’d have done it already. Whatever it is that’s making you procrastinate, being able to give it a name won’t instantly make it go away.

Try Some Forward Motion

What are your goals for the rest of the year? What’s been holding you back? Do you know how you might make your way past that resistance?

For me, a great way to move on those things I’ve been putting off is to take some sort of small step. You might want to write a resistance list and try to knock one small thing off every day.

I might want to open that ebook document and read what I have, or spend some time working on another essay, or researching competing titles for one of the books I’m thinking about.

One little thing every day turns into a big thing done in a lot less time than you think, maybe even in less time than you spent thinking and worrying about it.