From Procrastination to Productivity: How I Tamed My Writing Demons

Learn how to break free from the loop of inaction and step into consistent progress with these three simple techniques.

AI-generated image via Wonder. Prompt: “a writer lost in thinking, stuck in analysis paralysis”

I’m a perfectionist and an overthinker.

If your top themes in CliftonStrengths are Futuristic and Intellection, you’re all too familiar with this painstakingly slow process:

• Do you like to mull over your ideas and spend a ridiculous amount of time planning for the perfect course of execution?
• Would you rather spend more time fantasizing about how creative and perfect your content would be, feeling giddy about gaining amazing feedback from your readers?
• As days go by planning, you think of more and more ideas and add them up to the plan. Bunching up your launching date further because you’re convinced quality takes time.

I know. It’s a never-ending loop of analysis paralysis, right?

I Finally Paid The Price For My Procrastination

Two months ago, this behavior cost me a client. For the first time in my freelancing career, my contract was terminated prematurely because I spent too much time on my articles.

And that’s because I want to uphold the quality of every content I produce with every ounce of my creative juices. I detest subpar articles. Nevertheless, perhaps it just wasn’t a great fit between us.

It wasn’t a straightforward process, but I’ve learned to accept and develop more patience with my work process. Still, that incident was a wake-up call for me to turn inaction into action.

Since July, I have started putting small changes into my habits. My goal is to shut off my inner critic, tap into my creative juices without judgment, and JUST WRITE.

Produce. produce. produce. That’s the only way to improve your craft.

3 Techniques That’ll Turn Procrastination into Productivity

I’d like to share these three techniques that have shown promising results in just a month of doing them.

Image edited (Canva) and owned by author

1. START A WRITING CHALLENGE.

Challenge yourself to write every day. You know what Nike says — just do it.

With the help of Tom Kuegler’s free 5-day Medium course through emails and inspiration from ILLUMINATION’s new writer’s onboarding post, I will finally start my 100-day writing challenge.

This post you’re reading right now is my Day 1 of 100.

As soon as I hit the publish button, that’s a huge milestone for me already. Next, I just have to follow through and stick with it.

TIP: You can use ChatGPT for content ideas. Give a short context such as your goal for this challenge and your top interests, and it’ll give you 100 working titles for your blog posts. From that list, simply pick one title and write about it. Every single day.

2. PAINT YOUR CALENDARS.

Add color to your schedule of activities to keep things interesting. Here’s what my schedule looks like:

Screenshot taken from the author’s (Kaycee Ports) iCalendar

Personally, the colors in my calendar excite me every morning. I get up, pick up my iPad, and see what activities I have in store for me today.

Painting my calendars gives me that visual direction and helps me stick to better habits — which include writing every day.

TIP: Block time slots every day for the whole week. I use the iCalendar because it paints colors depending on the category of my activity. For example, I paint my calendar pink for content marketing activities, blue for upskilling activities, green for fitness and health-related activities, and so on.

3. USE A HABIT TRACKER TO MONITOR CONSISTENCY

Over the years, my habit trackers took different shapes, colors, and sizes.

Image owned by author

Image owned by author

Image owned by author

Break your goals down into building blocks of habits, then track your consistency.

If your goal is to become a prolific writer — then every day, you must read and write. So track your reading and writing habits.

If your goal is to become a high-paying freelance writer — then every day, you must upskill. So track your upskilling activities, such as deep work habits.

Every tick or every box colored gets you closer to your vision, your dreams. One baby step at a time.

Measure your consistency by tracking your habits.

TIP. Think about the best version of yourself. What would he/she be doing daily to meet his/her goals? List these activities and schedule them on your calendar.

After a month of doing these techniques, my life did not change. That would be too good to be true.

No, you can’t expect to show up every day. But try to fulfill the 80% capacity, and you’re more equipped for the long journey ahead.

How about you? I would love to hear what worked for you!

How did you win over procrastination and turn it into productivity? Looking forward to your comments ❤