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This is my weekly installment of “writing about writing,” in which I scan the world for material to help other writers. Today I discuss a TED talk about how to break a bad habit….
Psychiatrist Judson Brewer studies the relationship between mindfulness and addiction — from smoking to overeating to all those other things we do, even though we know they’re bad for us.
After listening to a TED-talk of his, I wondered if I could adapt his advice for writers.
In working with people who wanted to quit smoking, Brewer learned that mindfulness training, focusing on the idea of curiosity, could be really helpful. “In fact, we even told them to smoke,” he says. “We just told them: be really curious about what it’s like when you do.”
One smoker said, “Mindful smoking smells like stinky cheese and tastes like chemicals, YUCK.” Although she joined the program because she knew smoking was bad for her, it was her curiosity that taught her it tasted terrible.
I think that smoking is at least a little like procrastination. It has a deep lure, but it’s neither a happy nor a terribly rewarding process.
So, the next time you want to procrastinate with your writing, engage your curiosity and ask yourself what it’s really like.
- Is it making you feel happy?
- Is it rewarding?
- Is it life-affirming?
I’m guessing you’ll have to answer no to all these questions. So, instead, I suggest you persuade yourself to write for a really short amount of time — no more than three to five minutes. That’s all.
And track how you feel then. (My suspicion is you’ll feel great!)
As Brewer says, “The paradox here is the mindfulness is just about being really interested in getting close and personal with what’s actually happening in our bodies and minds from moment to moment.
“The willingness to turn toward our experience is supported by curiosity, which is naturally rewarding.
If you want to break the bad habit of procrastinating over writing, I’ve previously outlined lots of tricks and technique you can use (see here and here). But using your curiosity to help yourself may be just the ticket you need.
