Cross Indecision Off Your Schedule

It’s Wasting Your Time For Writing (And Life)

It’s Wasting Your Time For Writing (And Life)

Photo by Kyle Glenn on Unsplash

“One of the scariest things in our lives is actually doing what we know we want to do.” — Cheryl Strayed

I’m fascinated with people who have two thriving careers. Doctors who write come to mind. Lawyers who write. How do they do it? With not only one, but two, demanding careers, how do they manage to find time to put words on the page?

I’m not exactly sure, but I’ll tell you one thing they don’t do, and that is waste time on indecision. Because wallowing in indecision is a time waster, no doubt about it. And you may not realize it, but indecision can be one of our biggest time wasters.

It is especially so for writers.

Furthermore, it’s a sneaky, pernicious beast. One you might not realize is eating away at your precious writing time.

How Indecision Affects Writers

Oh, let us count the ways! Here’s a typical scenario. You reach a point of indecision and start to feel perplexed. Instead of realizing that you need to stop and make a decision, you dither. And dithering is dangerous, because it can lead you astray. In my case, dithering often leads me to unproductive activities like scrolling mindlessly through my Instagram feed. Before I know it, a half an hour has gone by.

You might also be calling indecision by another name — like procrastination or laziness. But I believe that by calling a habit by its real name, you can more easily master it. So let’s look at indecision:

Indecision about Whether or Not to Try to Write

Some people are paralyzed by the mere thought of committing time to writing. I have a potential client who told me, if I could just guarantee I’d make money at writing, I’d do it. I’m certain that thought arises every time she thinks about putting pen to paper. And then she dithers — should I take the time to do this? Ooh, I don’t know if I’ll be successful. So is it worth it?

To her — and others like her — I say, yes it is worth it. Even if you never make a penny from your writing, every word you put on the page is worth it. Because writing grows you. It teaches you. It expands your mind in ways you’d never expect.

(And, of course there are no guarantees you can make money from writing. But don’t let anybody tell you it’s not possible. Because it is.)

Indecision About Spending Time Writing

You’re not sure if you should write today, or do something more “useful.” Such as, say, mopping the kitchen floor. You’ve managed to make the commitment to writing, but it is still difficult to get yourself to the chair to get started. Because — there’s so much else to do. Shouldn’t I put a load of laundry in? Or scrub the bathroom? Or mow the lawn? Or go over that work report? Or go for a walk?

Yes, those are all worthy activities. But so is your writing! And the time you spend waffling about whether or not you should do it is time you could easily throw several hundred words on the page.

Here’s something I’ve learned: when I commit to doing my most important thing (writing, duh) first, everything else falls into place. All those pesky chores and to-dos magically get done. Why? Because I’ve released the energy taken up by indecision and procrastination in the act of just doing the writing.

Indecision About What to Work On

Many writers, myself included, wear multiple hats. On any given day, I may be writing articles for Medium, working on my novel, designing workshops, or reading client manuscripts. Knowing what to focus my energy on can get confusing — and cause me to dither.

Of course, the antidote for this is organization and scheduling. I know this. And I don’t do it, because I am a loosey-goosey right-brained sort of person. What I’ve been doing lately to combat indecision over what to do is write down my three most important goals the night before. And then I do them, one at a time.

Et voila. Goodbye, indecision.

Just Focus on the Next Step
One Thing at a Timemedium.com

Indecision About a Piece You’re Working On

You’re deep into working on your novel, and suddenly the writing halts. You’re stuck. You’re mired. You don’t know where to go next. You blame it on a million and one things — you don’t know your character, you don’t know the story, yada, yada, yada. But, really, you have lots of possibilities in front of you. But you cannot decide where to go next.

When I reach a place like this, I try to remind myself:

The answers to your writing questions will come in the writing.

Because they do. Start writing. Something. Anything. And your indecisiveness will fall away sooner or later.

How We Make Decisions

Emotion and Your Brain

According to brain experts, we make decisions based on emotion. We may not think we do, but we do. This has to do with the part of the brain that lights up when making a decision. Making a decision can actually be related to past fears. For instance, your father told you that your dream of being a writer was ridiculous and you’d never make any money at it. Thus you fear acting on your dream — and you are constantly indecisive about sitting down to write.

Prepare thyself for a bit of nerdy brain science to explain this.

— The vmPFC is part of your prefrontal cortex, or the front of your brain. One of its functions is to regulate fear.

— The amygdala is the part of your brain that tells you when to be afraid. It’s where all those lovely conditioned fear responses are born, and where they thrive.

— But since the vmPFC stops you from being afraid, when it is active, you can let go of your fears. And then you can make a decision.

How to Make Better Decisions

If you’re really struggling with indecisiveness, and it is affecting your ability to get to the page, try these suggestions:

1. Will this further my goals?

Yeah, this is basic. But it can be really helpful to remind yourself that your goal is to be a bestselling writer. And to get there, you have to decide to sit down and write every day — or at least as often as possible.

2. Does spending time on it contribute toward my purpose in life?

It’s okay if your purpose in life is to lie on the grass and find shapes in the clouds, as long as you are contributing time toward it on a regular basis. But I suspect your true purpose is a bit more complicated than that — and that is has to do with writing.

3. Is it integrity with who I want to be?

In the days before social media took over the world, there used to be a question often asked of women: do you want your gravestone to say, She had a clean house?

Now, I’d change that to, do you want your gravestone to say, She rigorously kept up with social media?

Uh huh. Maybe more like: She wrote her heart out every day.

4. Is it in line with my values?

Do you know what your values are? Writer Cynthia Morris shares a useful values exercise. Basically, choose a moment that meant a great deal to you and then deconstruct why. Was it because you were spending time with people you love? Were you hard at work on a project? What? Creativity is one of my highest values, so choosing to write every morning instead of catching up on all the news sites is in line with that. (And I am, alas, not always 100% successful at this.)

5. Will it make me happy?

And by this I mean, really, truly happy, the way engaging in a hobby or activity you love makes you feel. Not the I’m-bored-and-I-can’t-decide-what-to-do-so-I’m-scrolling-my-Facebook-feed “happy,” which actually has the opposite effect.

Let’s be clear here — not every single decision you make has to end up with you at your desk writing. Writers need time off and self care and a social life, too.

But if you manage to conquer your indecisiveness over writing and get yourself to the page, you’ll be better able to enjoy all the rest of your activities with a whole heart.

You just read another exciting post from the Book Mechanic: the writer’s source for creating books that work and selling those books once they’re written.

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