How to Tackle Aversive Writing Tasks

3 steps for overcoming procrastination

Photo by Jukan Tateisi on Unsplash

Why Do We Procrastinate?

Procrastination is common for a good reason: we get to avoid doing something yucky by doing something more satisfying. Sometimes we even do “productive procrastination,” where we finally get around to replacing that lightbulb that’s been burnt out for months, feeling like we accomplished something while our actual to-do list lays stagnant.

We’re likely to procrastinate on aversive tasks—things that feel ambiguous, confusing, lack clear instructions, or don’t feel intrinsically rewarding (learn more about aversive tasks here). In my coaching work with academics, I’ve noticed that certain tasks, especially in the revision stage of writing, are more likely to feel aversive, causing procrastination or worse—anxiety and dread. Many people who choose to work with me do so because they want accountability and individual guidance to help them stay on track, face their aversive tasks, and complete their projects with time to spare.

(Quick side note: Did you know I’m currently accepting 3 new coaching clients to begin 6 months of Success & Accountability Coaching in August or September? If any of what I’ve just described has you going, “Oh, that is SO me!” and you’re looking for extra support to whittle down your to-do list, you can learn more about my coaching here.)

Out of Sight, Out of Mind Only “Works” For So Long

Let’s imagine you’re writing a dissertation or article or book and receive feedback from your advisor or editor on a draft you submitted. You might feel nervous to open it up, regardless of whether you worked really hard on perfecting it or you threw it together at the last minute. After some deep breaths, you might brave the document and see loads of suggestions for edits, which could prompt you to catastrophize and think things like my writing is crap, it’ll take forever to work through the suggestions, and was all the work I did before for naught?!

So you shut the document and ignore it and go reorganize your bookshelf or scroll Tiktok without reading any comments.

I want to pause here and say that it’s understandable to take this approach. Graduate students and professors usually have busy schedules, which is amplified for folks who are working multiple jobs, are caretakers, or who navigate chronic health conditions. It’s hard enough to carve out time to finish a first draft, so learning that you need to revise it substantially can cause feelings of hopelessness, anger, or overwhelm. You already worked your ass off! I get why you’d hesitate to dive back in.

Plus, we can’t always predict what kinds of feedback we’ll get from a reviewer. Journal article drafts are notorious for having a “Reviewer 2,” or a peer scholar who lambasts your piece with aggressive critiques and suggestions. Sometimes our dissertation advisor takes forever to get back to us, and when they do, they overload us with a to-do list and little time to complete it. If the editor of our book tells us that we need to develop our ideas or theoretical framework or add a whole new chapter, we might feel like we’re starting from scratch.

But in the long run, “out of sight, out of mind” isn’t an ideal approach. It’s similar to piling up your mail and avoiding opening it, or refusing to check your banking statement because you’re afraid of what you might find. It’s likely that the longer you wait to address them, the harder it’ll be. In the case of our writing, we might miss important deadlines or tarnish our reputation with our committee or publications.

(Another quick side note: If you’re thinking “Oh yikes, I really relate to the stuff about ignoring mail and bills,” you might like the “Coming Back From Some Bullshit” episode of the Bottom Lines Top Dollars Podcast, which focuses on returning to a financial responsibility after ghosting it.)

How to Tackle Aversive Writing Tasks

Revision might feel intimidating, but remember, you are smart and you are a good writer—you just need to make your revision process actionable and achievable. Here are three steps for making progress instead of procrastinating.

Step 1: Scope out the project. This is the best way to navigate a long list of comments. Skim through the suggestions to identify how challenging the asks are. You may find that some comments are quick fixes, some are optional, and some can be knocked out in a Pomodoro session (25 minutes of focused work).

Step 2: Generate a to-do list. When I worked on revisions for longer pieces of writing, I would turn my reviewer’s comments into a to-do list so I could visually track how many things I had left to do. There’s nothing worse than already feeling overwhelmed and flipping through pages to stressfully skim comments without engaging with them.

Step 3: Batch certain tasks in specific productivity sessions. While you might want to start at the top of your document and work your way through chronologically, it might be more strategic to pair similar tasks and schedule them into productivity sessions during times when you might have the appropriate level of energy or capacity to focus. For example, if you know you tend to hit a slump right after lunch, perhaps don’t plan to do complex and large-scale revisions at that time. Instead, perhaps this period is perfect for making quick fixes.

I hope you found today’s letter inspiring. I’d love to hear from you about what approaches have helped you to navigate revision and working through comments on your drafts!

Take care and talk soon,

Dr. Kate