This week’s obsession resulted in a new podcast episode…listen here.

We all have those things we just can’t seem to get done. I call it my “sludge pile,” a bunch of home improvement chores that have, in theory, been on my to-do list for years (literally). When I was younger, I was a terrible procrastinator when it came to school work, doing the dishes, taking out the garbage, or pretty much anything that smacked of work.

But it’s one thing to avoid household chores, it’s another thing entirely to procrastinate when it comes to your writing. As a writer with ideas to share and important goals to reach, procrastinating carries serious costs. Not getting the writing done can push back publication, reduce your revenues, or even threaten your livelihood. It delays your dreams. Not to mention, even though procrastinating might seem preferable in the moment, it’s a surefire method for creating stress and anxiety.

I go deeper on the podcast, but let me boil the infinite specific reasons down to two central demons that I believe cause almost all procrastination: fear and loathing.

Fear has many minions: imposter syndrome, fear of failure, fear of success, perfectionism…the list goes on. Fear keeps us from sitting down to write because we are worried what will happen once the writing is done and out in the world. Fear can strike just as you are planning to start. Millions of books have gone un-started thanks to fear. But fear can also pounce when you are almost done. What might look, even to yourself, as laziness or procrastination, might be unconscious self defense against fear of what’s next. Thanks to fear, millions of books have gone unfinished.

Loathing also comes in many forms. The most obvious challenge is when you dislike or even resent the writing you have to do. Much school work falls into the category. Hard to make yourself write when you hate it.

The less obvious mechanism is when you want the outcome, but don’t want to do the work to make it happen. Many people want to “have written a book,” but far fewer people actually want to do the work to write a book. We all know people who have talked about writing a book for years but never started. Why? There’s a good chance they just don’t really want to pay the cost of doing the actual work.

To prove to yourself that loathing is a common cause of procrastination, all you need to do is think about how rarely you miss your favorite shows or events, or how quickly you jump to do the things you love doing most.

If you’re struggling with procrastination today, start by reminding yourself that procrastination is not a matter of being lazy or lacking willpower. Then, schedule some time to sit with yourself and diagnose the root cause: are you afraid of something? Or is it a loathing or lack of desire problem?

Once you know what you’re dealing with, you can develop strategies for eradicating the root causes and getting your writing mojo back.

Happy writing,

Trevor