Today (and for weeks actually) I’ve been getting annoyed at myself for procrastinating. Why can’t I just get on with it?! What’s stopping me?

And yesterday I finally figured out why – it’s because I can’t think straight at the moment. And not just ‘think straight’ but think at all sometimes.

I have to write a couple of lectures and an article for a website, and I’d like to write some blog posts and my newsletter. None of them should be difficult particularly, but equally, they’re all more than just dashing off a few sentences.

They require proper thinking time.
And that’s my problem.

I’m setting aside several hours each day to write, but during those hours I’m being interrupted endlessly – by the kids, my emails, parcels, neighbours, the dings and bleeps coming from my phone…

Basically, I’ve given myself time in front of my laptop screen – seemingly ‘time to write’, but I haven’t given myself the space to actually THINK about what I want to write. And that’s why I keep ending up staring at a blank page or even avoiding the blank page by doing something else entirely.

So this afternoon I gave myself some time to think. I silenced all my notifications, made sure the kids were engrossed in something that didn’t involve me, put on noise-cancelling headphones and an hour long ambient music track on my Calm app, and I sat back in my chair and closed my eyes….

Predictably, I didn’t get a whole hour. Even the idea of a totally uninterrupted hour is laughable for a single parent in lockdown. So I did get interrupted. But I also did get some time to think about a couple of my tasks and to write down some thoughts and ideas about them.

I also wrote this blog post straight after, which I’m resisting the urge to spend too much time editing. Done is better than perfect, as they say, and I need to move on to the next task.

At some point I may even write the first issue of my new newsletter, so if you’d like to be first in the queue to get it when I do, pop over here and sign up: https://www.getrevue.co/profile/soozibaggs – aptly, it’s called Thinking Time.

PS. If you’re admiring my beautiful notebook, it’s the Wild Unknown Journal, and it’s likely to make a lot of appearances in the future.