Real talk: we all procrastinate about something. Most of us flinch at that idea and insist we do nothing of the sort, but, then, lo and behold, fast forward to writing time and we find we must so urgently organizing the sock drawer and ordering hot pink metallic cupcake wrappers online and yeah, no.
If procrastination around sitting down to write is your thing (and in the “Stuff to Procrastinate Hall of Fame,” writing is easily a favorite for many), here's some advice, backed up by research, to help:
"The discovery of pre-crastination may suggest a way to counter the ills of procrastination," says Scientific American. "Such smaller tasks, when completed, will promote a sense of accomplishment, will bring one closer to the final goal."
According to Scientific American, breaking big, looming tasks into smaller pieces helps get it done faster because our brains will treat each accomplishment as a reward and be enticed to keep going.
Try this if you have an observation or idea that’s not quite cooked yet by jotting down pieces of evidence as you come across them, or by keeping a running tab of news hooks on your notes app on your phone. Or, by keeping a document called “stuff I maybe want to write about,” or using digital tools like Feedly or Evernote to unearth and gather evidence, inspiration and news hooks for yourself. Then, maybe move to tasks like “decide what my argument is,” “write down what I want people to do after reading my argument” to hep you write a conclusion later, and reviewing the evidence you’ve gathered.