Tricking Yourself

Yesterday I gave myself the rare treat of having lunch in a “real” restaurant, so I took a book and settled back in the booth to relax a bit in between packing stints. I borrowed A Writer’s Time by Kenneth Atchity from my friend Marcy, but I just now put it in my cart at Amazon. I’m enjoying it that much.

The first chapter or two – as far as I got during lunch – reminded me of something I used to do, but apparently forgot about. Tricking myself. If you know why you do something, you can find ways to manipulate your mind to do that something more. Or less. Ken suggests telling yourself you’re not going to write today. Then go about your business. That declaration will irritate a different part of you into defiantly coming up with things it wants to write down. Oh yeah, this book is so for me.

You may remember I mentioned in a prior blog that my anxiety level noticably decreased when I allowed myself to move writing to a lower level on my priority list. (Only 36 days till we move!) And yet, I noted, the amount of writing I accomplished stayed at nearly the same level – occasionally even increasing! Apparently, my brain thought I was trying to trick myself into writing more!

I’m eager to finish reading this book and see how many other things I can put into practice. But I won’t be reading tonight. In fact, I’m going to let you off with a shorter blog today so we can talk about what ways you’ve found to trick yourself into getting something done. Or to keep from doing something you shouldn’t. (That’s overeating for me!)

Tell me – what’s working for you? What used to work? Why do you think it works?

And my big question – if I tell myself I don’t have to do any more packing today, will I get more packing done??