When it dawns on me that I’ve become focused on sweeping up every granule of cat litter strewn throughout our house resulting from our puppy’s prior smorgasbord, I know that I am in the process of getting myself unstuck. I prefer to see my actions this way rather than just plain ole procrastination.

Whatever the definition, the results are that as long as I’m sweeping, I sure am not writing.

It’s a fine line that I walk between avoiding actions that I need to take and coming up with ideas generated by moving my body.  The distinction I make is that when I become aware of doing something else besides what I “need” to be doing, then every action after that marks either diving into avoidance or actively taking the opportunity to create ideas about what I can write about.

My desk has never become more organized and clean as when I am feeling stuck and bored with what I “have to do”.  Actually, for me to take ten minutes to clean the cat hair and dander off my desktop and put my papers in order of importance and file away the others turns out to be a great way for me to prepare myself to do the work that I don’t want to do.  The trick is to stop after the basic cleaning and organizing has been done (if you find yourself polishing the face of your cabinets or re-writing file labels, you may have gone too far).

Music is another thing that helps to move my energy.  There is so much out there now and so many ways to listen to it that you should be able to find something that moves you without too much effort.  For me, I like to find tunes that make my body move. There is nothing quite as satisfying as turning up the music till my dogs’ ears tilt and then dancing up a storm (I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been caught by the UPS guys…). If you can’t move, just think out the dance you would do if you could.  There’s something too moving in your imagination even when you are physically unable.

Then tackle that project or proposal or letter that you’ve been putting off.  You can always find ways to treat yourself for a job well done afterwards.  Right now, for instance, after I get through posting this article I’m going to read some articles out of “The Sun” while I’m lying in the sun near the pool. 

Get after it, there’s no time like the present!

(recently posted at www.businesscentral.com)