How I Wrote My First Medium Story and Stopped Procrastinating
Do it now
“Maybe later.”
“I am not prepared.”
“I will do it tomorrow.”
And I guess that “TOMORROW” never comes.
You must have felt it when it is time to work, and your mind wants to do anything except that task. It is like a battle between you and your mind where you want to do something important, and your mind keeps telling you to do it later.
We all have been there. I was guilty of doing it repeatedly until one day when I stopped and saw things changing around me.
To find more about it, we have to delve into the psyche of the human mind to help people like me stop procrastinating and be productive instead.
It was three months ago when I decided to write a story and publish it on Medium. I kept on planning it in my head but couldn’t start writing. I kept telling myself that I don’t have enough resources, or I haven’t done enough research to be able to write a story.
But it was all in my head. See, my mind was playing with me. It was turning my plans into a fear that I didn’t want to face.
This led me to explore the psychological side of my brain. I found out that the prefrontal cortex and the limbic system of our brain indulge in an argument whenever we procrastinate.
The prefrontal cortex, as you might be wondering, is the rational part of our brain, the decision-maker, that reminds us to do the important task first. Whereas the limbic system, the crude part of our brain, keeps distracting us and wants to focus on other things rather than the critical task. It keeps pushing us away from our goal, and as a result, we continue to delay the task.
So why do we often listen to the limbic system and avoid the prefrontal cortex?
Well, the answer is hidden in another small part of the brain called the amygdala. This part of our brain controls anxiety and fear. It basically determines our response to any threatening stimulus.
When we procrastinate, we trigger anxiety and fear.
For me, writing a story was an overwhelming task. It included research, reading different articles, and thinking about the “big idea” The prefrontal lobe of my brain wanted to work on the story. The limbic system, on the other hand, wanted to spend another hour surfing through the internet or binge-watching — procrastination activated the amygdala, which triggered fear and anxiety.
I kept on waiting for the “right moment” to start writing.
One day I talked to my friend who set a goal for me to write and publish a story on Medium. The overwhelming task suddenly became doable. All the research was done in an hour, and I wrote it (this story about procrastination you are reading) in less than two hours.
How did I do it?
If I had kept listening to the limbic system, I would never have done it in the months to come. As soon as my friend set a goal for me and gave me a deadline, my mind started working on it. The task that I was delaying for months was done in a day.
If you want to see HOW, keep reading.
I found a goal buddy
You need to find a goal buddy who can keep a check on you.
I was in the habit of delaying tasks because there was no one to keep a check on me. I could delay because I wasn’t accountable to anyone.
As soon as I found a goal buddy, I was able to overcome fear and anxiety. I was quick to do all the tasks, and I knew there is someone who would question me if I am behind deadlines.
A goal buddy is ideally someone who can hold you accountable for your actions — one who will not listen to your excuses.
I stopped looking at the big picture
I know we have always heard “look at the big picture,” but I guess for me, it worked the opposite. I kept looking at the big picture, which kept delaying the task and inculcated fear.
Instead of looking at the big picture, I started looking at the small puzzles. I broke down the task into simple steps.
As I had to write a post, I broke it down into smaller and doable steps. These doable steps helped me a lot in doing the task much faster. I went step by step, and it became less overpowering.
Tip: make a list of steps and keep putting a check in front of each step as you do. This will motivate you to keep going.
I planned my time
In this fast-paced world, no one invests all his/her time into doing one task. You need to be productive as well as quick to be able to get the most out of anything.
The primary reason for my procrastination was the nature of the task itself. I kept on dreading the job as it involved reading, researching, and coming up with a mind-blowing idea.
Instead of giving it all my day, I prioritized the work and planned my time.
Research — 20 minutes (for videos I increased the playback speed)
Reading- I read 10 blog posts to get myself familiar with the trending style
Outline- 5 minutes
Writing- 1.5 hours
And boom it was done in less than 3 hours. The task I was supposed to do about 3 months ago was done in a day.
Set my resources
I had to avoid all the distractions that could delay the task further. So, I collected all my resources and put them in one place. It included:
My laptop
My notebook
My sticky notes
I switched off my phone for two hours to focus on writing the post.
I visualized the process
If you are going to work on a task, then visualizing the process in your mind would help you in doing it quickly.
Walk your brain through the steps that involve the completion of the task. Familiarize your mind with the steps, and you will see that you spend relatively less time when it comes to doing it.
I visualized the outline, the related words, the body of the post, the objective, and images. This gave a picture of what the post would look like. The familiarity helped my brain focus more, and I was able to write it with a clear goal in my mind.
I committed to stay focused
You need to make a commitment with yourself to stay focused until the task is completed.
Decide the duration and keep everything out of your way that would procrastinate the task. For me, it was my phone. I switched it off for about two hours and focused on doing the job only.
I prepared myself for failure
There is no harm in trying. Remember that if you fail, it is a learning opportunity.
The fear of making my first post perfect led me to procrastinate. I kept delaying it and waited for the “right moment” to do it. It kept pushing me away from my goal.
I decided to prepare myself for failure. What would that be? It will be if my story gets rejected, I will not stop writing. I will eliminate the errors that I made and try again.
How Can You Stop Procrastinating?
So, the next time, your limbic system starts playing games with you and the amygdala stimulates anxiety and fear, follow these steps to listen to the prefrontal lobe.
- Find a goal buddy
- Stop looking at the big picture
- Plan your time
- Set your resources
- Visualize the process
- Commit to staying focused
- Prepare yourself for failure
Stop procrastinating and start taking an action today.
