Conquering self-doubt and procrastination
Conquering. Vanquishing. These are the medieval activities I yearn to enact upon my army of unhelpful impulses. I feel roused.
Self doubt: I think humility, critical thinking, openness to being wrong, and respect for learning are honourable traits as a human bean and valuable perspectives for a writer. Understood this way, we need the corrective touch of self-doubt to avoid locking the steering wheel and driving straight off the road. However, a little goes a long way. The kind of vampiric self-doubt which sits on my chest for an hour before I fall asleep and tells me I’m doomed is probably not the useful kind.
Procrastination: Like many human beans, I have a tendency to procrastinate. But it’s not a big feature of my mental landscape; I am generally too anxious or impatient to delay a start. What I have seemed to struggle with, is Continuing. I have flaked out. I have given up. I have gotten overwhelmed or bored. I have needed an authority to remind me of the value of commitment.
I would like to be my own authority one day. Until then, I have the wise ones, who have already crossed the mountain paths and come back to us with tales of the beyond . . .
all course content copyright Jacqui Lofthouse thewritingcoach.co.uk