odd but doable

The writing has been a bit stunted as of late. Not for any real reason, I’ve simply been temporarily obsessed with a resent book release. (If you know you know.) It’s brought about quite possibly my strangest piece of advice ever, and it is to be taken with a mountain of salt and self reflection. 

I have an all or nothing personality. It comes with benefits and drawbacks, but that’s not this post. It means that if I am obsessive about something I either have to completely deny myself for the sake of progress and productivity, or I have to give wholeheartedly into it. I try to strike a balance, but I’m about a decade too early to have found it I’m afraid. 

I have found through trial and error I will release myself from obsessive interest if I simply exhaust it. Easy example, I am just about enthralled with reading the latest instalment of a book series I quite throughly enjoy, so the solution is to read and finish the book as fast as I desire to then get back to it. If I try to savour it, try to restrict myself too heavily I end up unproductive in every direction, and it draws out the distraction to insane lengths. So I have found if I simply let the minor obsession ride it’s course I return to “normal” exceptionally quicker. 

Now this is not an across the board, or full proof tactic, it only works with things that come to a finite end. So finishing a book ends the distraction, but waiting to run out the clock on something a great deal more long term is not an option. In those cases I have to get creative with a reward based schedule. So I want to do the thing that eats up my time, well only after I complete my task list. And I am incredible strict, it’s were my applied stubbornness comes in handy. But it is just as easily abused by myself. 

So really I haven’t solved anything, only found a way to work with myself instead of against. That realization alone has been worth it’s weight in gold to me. Working against myself has only ever brought about a cycle of shame I then in turn have to spend time dealing with. Precious time I’ve wasted over the years disliking the way I do things when I should have been asking myself questions. Like, why am I obsessive about this thing right now? Will being distracted for a short while have positive or negative impacts? What fear or pain is really stopping me from doing the thing I actually want to do? Another painful lesson I only learned once reaching the end of myself. A strange place if I’m honest. 

This is simply my way of avoiding distraction based writers block. Sometimes writers block comes about due to an error or difficulty with the writing itself. Often, for me, it’s simply a question of distractions. My way of dealing is letting myself be distracted for awhile, but give myself a time limit. Once I pass the point of reasonability then I cut myself off and force myself back to work. Because in instances like the one this week it is actually quicker and more productive to give in to it.

All this said, explained, and rambled, think and ask many, many question before replicating my trick here. It doesn’t always work, hasn’t even completely worked this time around. I think mainly because the obsessive desire is equal to that of my passion for writing my own book. It is as annoying as realization as it is a content one.