By Jennifer Blanchard
As a writer, you probably have a pile of projects you’ve been working on or that you’ve set aside to work on at a later point.
But what happens when you start to get overwhelmed by a writing project? What happens if your creativity is waning? What happens if you just can’t force yourself to sit down and work on your project, no matter how much you want to?
Before you cast the project aside in the “unfinished” pile, breathe and reboot:
- Breathe Deep–Remove everything from your hands, sit up straight, relax your body and close your eyes. Take a deep breath in through your nose. Hold it for a second or two, then slowly release it through your mouth. Repeat for at least a minute.As you breathe out, let the chaos and frustration about your project flow out of you, too.
- Focus on the Here and Now—Rather than focusing on all the things you need to do with your project or things that are coming up or that have happened, focus on what you’re doing right now. And focus on one thing at a time, if possible. Multi-tasking is great sometimes, but a lot of times it makes you overwhelmed. Focusing on one project at a time will help you simplify—and get things done.
- Take a Walk—Go outside, take a short walk around the block (or a long walk if you have time). Breathe in fresh air and use this time to regain some perspective on your project. Think about what’s more important to you—giving up or finishing what you start. Imagine what your life would be like if you let go of all the excuses and self-sabotaging behaviors. Imagine what you would accomplish if you gave up perfection. Imagine how much more you’d get done if you shut off your inner editor.
- De-Clutter Your Writing Area—Sometimes when you’re unorganized or things are out of order, it makes it difficult to get your creative juices flowing. By quickly de-cluttering your writing area, you can get some of the energy back that was being zapped due to the mess.
By taking a break, breathing and spending some time rebooting, you will get back to working on—and finishing—your project before you know it.
What do you do when you feel overwhelmed by a project?
About the Author: Jennifer Blanchard is founder of Procrastinating Writers. Be sure to follow her on Twitter.
