Do you ever procrastinate when you actually need to work on something big?

I’ll admit,  I’ve been feeling a little overwhelmed recently.  My brain is in overdrive.  Everything is whirring around in my head like a machine.  I have all these ideas to blog, but I haven’t posted anything for weeks (err..sorry guys).  I have major new projects that I need to implement at work…but I haven’t exactly started them….I’m still researching them…

I am sitting on the computer,  clicking, reading, sorting…thinking…thinking…thinking… tick tick tick tick.

Not surprisingly feeling increasingly anxious and uncertain which is leading to more clicking and reading.

Then I was listening to a Straight and Curly Podcast ( lots of what Kelly Exeter says really resonates with me) about when you need to start “learning nothing new”…and as they were talking…it dawned on me exactly what I’m doing.

I’m looking for a silver bullet.  I’m feeling nervous and unsure,  so instead of just getting started..I’m doing “productive” procrastination where I feel like I am being productive because I am reading things and keeping busy checking emails and updates…because I’m frantically hoping that something in all that will give me the direction that I need, it will give me exactly what I need to get the job done.  Something will inspire me to write a brilliant blog post.

And I realised that I do this all the time.  Weirdly,  the more pressure that is on me, the more overwhelmed I feel…the more likely I am to put down my tools and start just clicking/thinking.

But actually, what I really need to do…is just get started, with something.

This morning I started work, and I set myself a challenge. I got out my trusty timer again and put it on for one hour and decided to just START writing a plan for my major project even though I wasn’t exactly sure where it was leading.

(OK…short side note…hmm..not procrastination…just roll with me here….was looking for a link to last time I wrote about using my timer,  and realised it was another day when I was totally procrastinating…seems like this might be a habit of mine…  OK…so anyway,  back to writing my plan this morning)..

I decided it doesn’t matter if it is a crap plan…but I have to spend at least one hour without distractions and just get something down.

Then tonight,  I sat down and promised myself that I would write at least one blog post.  Doesn’t have to be brilliant…it just has to be done.

So…my work plan was started.  It wasn’t perfect,  but it was a start and then I had a much clearer idea of next steps and real actions that need to be taken.   I have committed to doing the same thing every day this week…at least one hour of committed time building on the plan.

And…here I am on the blog.  It isn’t my best blog post ever…but it is done.   And, you know what,  I’m going to be OK with that this week.

Are you procrastinating on something big?  Is it time to force yourself to just do it?

 P.S I’m super excited today because I learnt how to put this nifty little button at the bottom of my posts… woo…so if you are not already subscribed to my blogs, I’d love to have you join the gang and I get to drop into your email box each week (or whenever I get past my procrastination and write something!)