Reading time: About 3 minutes
If you’re inclined to delay, postpone or procrastinate, here’s an argument for why you should start writing today…
I talk with a lot of people who want to write… eventually.
- They have an idea for a book.
- There’s a blog they want to contribute to (perhaps it’s even their own!).
- They have a report that’s overdue, and their boss is getting impatient.
But somehow, they can’t make themselves sit at their desks and write.
- They tell themselves they need to get their inbox empty before they can start.
- They need to get their children settled into the new school year, first.
- They have an obligation to their condo association that takes priority.
Do I need to tell you that they’re all procrastinating?
I’m lucky enough not to procrastinate over writing anymore. But I procrastinate plenty with other things, so I know all the moves.
For example, I’ve been procrastinating about my French until very recently.
It’s a language I’ve wanted to speak since I was six years old. I was the kid on our block who watched the children’s show Chez Hélène on TV and, to the delight of our neighbours, used pidgin French with them.
I had a good French teacher in high school (merci Mme Reche), and I took a fair bit of French at university. But then I had 40 years of, well, rien. Didn’t speak a word except haltingly (and pathetically) when we were on vacation in France or Quebec.
Then, about six years ago, I started using Duolingo every day for roughly 30 to 45 minutes a day. That might sound like a lot. But those of you who also play Duolingo already know that’s not enough to make you remotely bilingual. Sure, you can pick up some vocabulary and maybe improve your accent a little if you do the spoken exercises. But it’s not going to give you much fluency.
I knew I needed to hire a tutor.
I just didn’t have the time for it, I told myself. I had to finish a course I was going to teach this fall, first. Also, I was way behind on my reading (and I commit to finishing 52 books every year). And I didn’t want to start lessons before going on holiday.
Excuses! For goodness’ sake, all I needed was 30 minutes a week. (And I was already spending much more than that on my Duolingo! Our internal calculations about time are sometimes rather revealing.)
About a month ago, I finally signed up, and now I have a Zoom conversation with a delightful young French woman named Anaïs every Thursday evening.
The first session was horrible beyond words. I could barely choke out a sentence. Anaïs — who speaks flawless French, English and, get this, Japanese! — was very patient and understanding with me.
Each week became a little easier, and last week I had a much better session. I still prepare some vocabulary before each chat, but I’m able to converse now and string together some slow but semi-coherent sentences.
I just had to wrap my mind around the idea that my French was going to stink.
The problem with adults learning a second language is they are embarrassed to make mistakes.
I think the same problem applies to writers. They not only don’t want to make mistakes, they don’t want to waste time.
“If I spend 30 minutes writing,” they say to themselves, “those words had better be good — maybe even perfect.”
But when you’re learning something new, it’s inevitable you’re going to make mistakes. Probably lots of them.
You can look at that as “wasting time,” or you can see it as learning.
Writing — and learning a second language — are high-resistance activities. We want to get them right, and we don’t want to waste time — our own or anyone else’s — so we put them off. We tell ourselves that we need to finish Task A or Task B first, and only then can we get started on the Really Important and Meaningful Task.
But what if you were to start writing today in a low-key way, spending, say, just five minutes a day writing? Would you really need to clear all the decks before you did that?
It’s often said that if you wait too long for the perfect moment, it will pass you by. Or as William Butler Yeats put it: “Do not wait to strike till the iron is hot, but make it hot by striking.”
When we look back on our lives, the most common regrets we have relate not to the risks we took but to the ones we didn’t.
The biggest barrier for many of us is simply getting started. So, let me help you try to do that. Here are three tips that will help you start writing today:
- Start small. This will increase your odds of success, which will make you feel more accomplished the next day, which will help you succeed then, too.
- Don’t fear mistakes. We all make mistakes. It’s the very best way to learn.
- Keep a learning journal. Documenting the lessons you’ve learned will help you make progress faster.
But if you can’t bring yourself to do step 3, understand that steps 1 and 2 are enough.
The best time to start was always yesterday. But the second-best time is right now.
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Need some help developing a better, more sustainable writing or editing routine? Learn about my three-month accountability program called Get It Done. There is turn-over each month, and priority will go to those who have applied first. You can go directly to the application form and you’ll hear back from me within 24 hours.
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My video podcast last week addressed how to stop editing while you write. Go here to see the video or read the transcript, and you can also subscribe to my YouTube channel.
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Could you start writing today? We can all learn from each other, so please, share your thoughts with my readers and me in the “comments” section below. If you comment on today’s post (or any others) by Sept. 30/24, I’ll put you in a draw for a digital copy of my first book, 8 1/2 Steps to Writing Faster, Better. To enter, please scroll down to the comments, directly underneath the “related posts” links, below. Note that you don’t have to join Disqus to post. See here to learn how to post as a guest. It’s easy!
