This post also
appeared in my Brainstorm e-bulletin: One of the
people in my online coaching program wrote: “One slight problem I am having is
that working on my book has started to feel too much like work. This is also
true of research even when it is about a topic that I would normally read about
for pleasure. As soon as I tend to think of something as being something that I
have to do I tend to procrastinate. This has been true of hobbies, sports that
I enjoy and academic subjects that I have studied.”
I think this
phenomenon--of things we normally enjoy starting to feel a bit of a burden--is
very common with creative people. We like having a feeling of total freedom and
as soon as something goes from being what we want to do to what we should do,
part of us wants to rebel. It reminds me of the opening scene of "Butch
Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," where Sundance will leave only if the other
guy invites him to stay...
ACTION: It's
kind of child-like (as are most aspects of being creative) so one solution is
to use playful methods to getting back to feeling more enjoyable again. For instance, set a timer and see how much you can get done in a short period of time, or play 'task roulette' by writing each task on an index card, shuffling them, and doing them in the order they come up; or listen to a new CD while doing the task.
(To get tips like these every month, sign up for my free Brainstorm e-bulletin. Just send an email request to [email protected])