are you sabotaging your best efforts?

February 27, 2014 Guest User

frustcrast There’s an evil recipe of disaster lurking in the minds and bodies of creative people all over the world. If you’re not careful, it can overtake your life, sabotage your best efforts, and leave you feeling like crap.

What is this recipe, you ask?

It’s the blend of frustration and procrastination, or as I like to call it, “frustcrastination.”

Are you in danger of catching the bug?

Read on and find out.

Let’s say, for example, you have to write a blog post. You sit at your computer, open up the blank screen, and… stare at it. You get up to pee, then make some tea, then check email when you get back to your computer. You see there’s a new Facebook notification so you click through to check it out and pretty soon you’re scrolling through a sea of cute baby photos, clicking the “like” button like mad. Before you know it, your allotted time for writing is gone. Where did the time go? Certainly not towards writing your blog post. You’re frustrated as hell but still can’t get to the work at hand. Hence, frustcrastination.

Not implying that exact scenario is what I dealt with this week (wink, wink), here’s what I can tell you if you find yourself frustcratinated and desperately trying to complete a project:

There’s another way in.

Stop pecking at the same locked door when you get no response. Walk around the house and climb into an open window instead.

Real life example:

I was trying to write this week’s post but could not get it together. I didn’t go to dance class because I wanted to write, but I wasn’t writing and my body was mad at me. I went through the scenario listed above many times. Failed attempts at completing a sentence. Distractions on the internet. Far too many bathroom breaks.

Then I had a thought -

What if I made a video instead of a written post?

[Lightbulb moment!]

So I turned on the camera and made something, which you’ll see shortly.

Not only did I make forward momentum on my blog post, but I also danced. My body felt happier, my mind was at ease. I had climbed through the metaphorical window, rather than continuing to tap at the door of frustcrastination.

So let’s turn the camera to you -

Where in your life are you knocking at the same locked door when there could be a wide open window around the corner?