I have lost count of the amount of times that I have typed "how to stop procrastinating" into Google. My computer search history is an embarrassing archive of my short attention span and penchant for silly YouTube clips, Netflix binges and random Wikipedia searches on actors from 90s TV shows. It’s a sickness.
I always feel guilty after my indulgences because I know what I should have been doing: filling in invoices, prepping work and actually looking at a bank statement. But more importantly I know that I should be writing my sitcom. I know that without writing a sitcom it can never be commissioned, performed, win a BAFTA, and I won’t be able to drunkenly thank "my close friend Helen Mirren" while being played out by the orchestra.
Like most people reading this I have dreams of writing for television and, like most people, I have a job that also requires my attention. The effort of balancing what I need to do and what I want to do makes me feel overwhelmed and at a loss of where to start- so why start at all?
I have found that the best way to get around my procrastination is to make lists: things that you need to do i.e pay bills, prep work, go shopping (food) etc. and a list for things that you want to do: write a blog post, watch episode of Ab Fab, write a scene of your sitcom etc. Then make mini deadlines for them and give them a satisfactory tick when you have completed them.
For me, writing is a strange one: I want to do it and I spend the whole day wishing that I wasn’t at work or arguing the point of an ‘unexpected item in bagging area’ with a machine but when I sit down to write I am still easily distracted. Before long I have spent two hours on Google street view exploring downtown Johannesburg. And I feel terrible for it.
Therefore I have started going to cafes to write and refrain from asking for the Wi-Fi password. With no distractions and a cup of hot steaming coffee, I manage to make good headway with my script albeit at a cost of £2.35. The only drawback is that I’m aware I look like a douchebag: "I must take my Apple Mac to a café to engage in a bit of public writing… yah". But if it works, it works.
Ironically, I wasn’t supposed to write this article but I can ring 02 customer services another time. Once I have closed this word document I have told myself I am going to start writing my sitcom and I know I will because I am going out for coffee. I am going to start by starting.
Lucy Holligan follow Lucy on Twitter @lucyholligan
