After several days of just not being on my grind and not being my best and most productive writer self, I am trying to get back into gear. I know that I have to do just that, because I set deadlines and above all that I have a full time job (just one now) calling me back to the fold shortly.
Here is what I learned about me from Covid-19’s hibernation of sorts: I have an enormous capacity to do things and get stuff done, but that capacity shrinks very quickly when not utilized. If left to my own devices I will sit in a corner and waste most of the day wrapped up in some pointless and inane endeavor designed to give me a quick and easy victory. I’m a win addict. I play games like Apex and Clash Royale (and most recently Catan on the phone) for the quick W, but that quick and repetitive high becomes all-consuming and in a matter of hours I’ve eaten most of my will to work hard and get that greater success. It is so much harder to sit down and work at constructing a novel that may or may not get published and, in the interim, is extremely mentally taxing than it is to peck away at my phone. In truth, I spent the first 30 minutes of today’s writing session playing Catan. I lost, btw, and then I sat down to write this blog about it.
Facts being what they are, I’m a lazy person. When in motion I can be a tremendously productive and good person. When not, I kind of suck as a human. What middle ground exists between the two is largely speculative.
So, it really comes down to who we allow ourselves to be in any given moment and how we train ourselves to stay the course—especially when it is hard and especially when there are really compelling distractions. I am fortunate to have a partner who helps when I am able to get past my own stubbornness enough to let her. That leaves me in the best life position to get things done, once I really get in motion.
As you’ve seen so many times on this space, dear reader, I’ve fallen off the productivity horse and I am trying to get back up and get back on. When I do, big things…