“How's the novel going?”
“Not so well.… But the procrastination is coming along fabulously. Soon it will breed abject self-loathing, and then I'll just become a writing machine.”
That right there is one of my favorite movie lines.
One of those that somehow makes you say “ouch!” and laugh at the same time, because It’s so damn relatable!
(It’s from Under the Tuscan Sun, btw, in case you hadn’t guessed by my subject line. I remember when it came out - it made we want to move to Cortona and renovate a farmhouse right away (honey, guess what we should do!))
Anyway, abject self-loathing is a thing.
It’s a highly motivating thing. I’ve tried it. Lots of times. It helps me finally draw the line in the sand and be like, “That’s it! Time to change something!”
For some people, like sexy-but-scarred novelist Frances Mayes, it’s the normal modus operandi.
For others, it’s seasonal. Or monthly. Or pretty rare.
And ideally, it’d be nice to get away from loathing yourself and just get into a happy flow. (Self: please note.)
But there’s a universal precursor to abject self-loathing: Doing nothing.
Seriously. It’s like once you’re in the habit of working out, you just keep working out.
The hardest part of working out is getting started! And then maybe those first few times until you get into a rhythm.
But soon, you start feeling so much better when you work out. And you’re like, “Why did I ever stop?!”
Just like when you finally get in the flow of writing, and then it’s time to stop and you’re like nooooo, I’m on such a roll!
The reason is because of The Efficiency Factor.
Over millennia, the human brain learned to conserve energy and effort by NOT changing the status quo.
If something works, it keeps doing just that.
It takes a LOT of energy to change, and stirs up a bunch of discomfort.
Our brains like mental discomfort about as much as we like a trip to the dentist!
Abject self-loathing helps override The Efficiency Factor.
The discomfort of NOT doing something becomes stronger than the discomfort of making change.
But usually there’s still some time where we resist it, or ignore it, or debate it in our head, or procrastinate with a million other things…
(P.S. There’s probably something underlying the procrastination that goes even deeper than the efficiency factor … but that’s a bigger subject.)
Until we FINALLY either jump in with our clothes on or we start easing into that thing we really know we need to do…
And WHY do we need to do it? Because the most visionary part of ourselves knows that we’re here to grow and evolve! And that there’s tremendous upside waiting for us on the other side of the discomfort.
So if you want to overcome inertia and ease back into a rhythm that feels great, what’s a girl to do?
Take a second look at the simple trick in my “Idea to I Did It” guide!
I’ve shared my favorite brain hack for getting into action.
It’s based on exercise … and fashion … and it’s pretty cool and brilliantly painless, imho.
You can download your free copy here.
(See page 3.)
Here’s to less drama and some metaphorical warm Tuscan sun,
Jennae