A little while ago, while I was writing a new article, I suddenly decided that I had brain lock. Some people call it writer’s block. I was half way through, but suddenly I started to have a difficult time completing the project. I simply saved it in a file on my computer, lying to myself that I would return in a day or so to finish it up with a fresh state of mind. That was an incredibly bad decision. I never did complete what I had set out to do for days. Several times during the next day or so I found myself opening the unfinished article, only to close it in frustration once again.
The longer I avoided it, the harder it became to finish what I had started. It was becoming a monkey on my back or what I would later call a HURDICLE, which is my expression for writing an article, struggling to complete it and allowing the struggle to become a hurdle. It did not feel good. I found it interfering with my thought process during the day. It would also pop up in the middle of the night. Actually, it was so heavy on my mind that it awakened me. I would scribble suggestive ideas onto my notebook on my nightstand, but in the morning I would shy away from completing the project. Why? Sometimes we think it is easier to quit than it is to work hard and push through the obstacles that are standing in our way. Quitting never works. Quitting becomes your secret failure and it is a bummer. That lousy feeling hangs around forever no matter how much you pretend not to care. Deep down you feel like you have failed. That secret will never fade and whenever you think about the fact that you walked away from that hurdicle, it will affect your next project negatively.
The very next morning I started the project over and completed it the same day. I felt liberated. Triumph!
A few tips on what to do about the desire to quit when you are faced with a hurdicle?
- The best way not to quit is to reignite the passion you had about the project in the beginning. Ask yourself, why you loved the idea in the first place? Have you changed your opinion? Be as honest with yourself as possible.
- Start over with a renewed point of view. That will works most of the time.
- What does work is to reward yourself when you have finished the job. Yes, it’s just that simple. Make a promise to yourself that at the end of the job you will give yourself something special that excites you. That will keep the passion going and you will remain motivated.
- I read an article about this very subject which I enjoyed and found to be true. Check it out.
