I was listening to the podcast, The Close-Up with guests Judd Apatow and Lena Dunham. One of the questions from the audience was: Could you explain your writing process and habits?
Judd Apatow explained that Lena, and she agreed, loves to write. If she has a bad day or is upset about something then writing puts here in a good mood. Judd on the other hand might be more like the rest of us, total procrastination.
To get things done he has to rent a hotel room and chug red bull to get his writing done so that there are no distractions. Distractions kill productivity, so you have to run as far away from them as possible; distraction is everywhere, but your desire to get the work done needs to be hotter than your desire to fuck around. But fucking around is easier than working as Judd explains, the reason behind his procrastination is because the act of writing is looking into a mirror, telling him of his unworthiness so he avoids it with other things.
I can relate to his sentiment, a lot. But my dream is to be more like Lena, probably everyone's also. Instead of feeling bad and wasting time, I want to feel bad and write to feel better. Lena does explain that she isn't perfect, she does indeed procrastinate by writing by writing other things. I relate to that too. Instead of rewriting my screenplay, I am sitting here writing this. I'm using my limited brain power to write about procrastination rather than to not procrastinate.
How do we kill what Tim Urban calls the procrastination monster?
By forming good habits. Conditioning yourself to work everyday especially on "days you don't feel like writing but have to get it done, and days you do feel like it but can't" due to unexpected emergencies or unimportant phone calls.
Judd offered some advice from David (last name who I can't quite make out) that is: "Write at the same time everyday to train your brain to turn on", which leads you to wire your brain into a habit.
Something they don't talk about on The Close-Up podcast, but I have heard Judd talk about on other podcasts is the importance of a deadline. Having a deadline creates a sense of urgency and forces to you to work to get it done by a specific time. The project that your working on now, set a deadline to be finished in two weeks. If you don't finish it by the deadline, then think of a way to punish yourself for not finishing it. I could recommend some punishments, but I'm sure you could find your own, just don't make them too harsh because remember:
Writing is fun, write to feel better. This is your new mantra.
