Can’t Focus? How to Help with Procrastination
It’s time for another one of my guest posts over at Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi’s Writers Helping Writers site. As one of their Resident Writing Coaches, I’ve previously shared:
- insights on how to approach an overwhelming revision
- how to increase the stakes (the consequences for failure) in our story
- 7 ways to indicate time passage in our stories (and 2 issues to watch out for)
- how to translate story beats to any genre
- how and why we should avoid episodic writing
- how to find and fix unintended themes
- how “plot” holes can sneak into our characters and worldbuilding
- how TV shows can help us learn to hook our readers
- what we can learn from stories that successfully break the rules
- how to ensure revisions aren’t creating rips in our story
- how to create strong story goals that won’t slow our pacing
- how to keep readers supportive through our characters’ changes
- how to use bridging conflict to kick off our story’s momentum
- how to create the right pace for our story (and make it strong)
- how to make the “right” first impression for our character
- what options we have if our story doesn’t fit the usual approach to conflict
- 3 ways to improve our use of tropes (because they aren’t all bad)
- knowing when to treat our setting like a character
- how we can make setting details meaningful rather than boring
- how to fix broken stories by delving into story structure
- how a focus on the plot arc vs. the character arc affects our story
- understanding scenes and sequels and figuring out a good balance
- how to create story stakes that matter and give meaning
- how to know when a deeper POV might hurt our story
- how and when we can use foreshadowing
- understanding our character-arc options in shorter stories
- how to define our story by using questions from journalism
- how to use (and not abuse) the “lampshade” technique
- how to portray close relationships (from friends to lovers)
- how to avoid giving readers déjà vu when repeating information in a book series
- the difference between flashbacks and dual timeline (and when to use each)
- how to strengthen our story with tropes
- how to intertwine themes to add depth to our story
- how to keep our series fresh with “similar but different” storytelling
- using context to deepen our writing (and differentiate our stories from AI slop)
- what creates great storytelling (and how can we improve)
- how to write uncomfortable scenes (and make them good)
- how to meet reader expectations with our romance story
With this turn for another coaching article at WHW, we’re talking about procrastination. Specifically, we’re exploring some of the different causes of procrastination and whether understanding the “cognitive modes” of our brain can help us overcome it.
Writers Helping Writers: Resident Writing Coach Program
Come learn all about procrastination in my guest post at WHW:
Procrastinating? Identify Your Cognitive Mode
Visit my guest post, where I’m sharing tons of suggestions and insights about procrastination, including:
- 10 suggestions for beating procrastination, based on the cause
- why the usual suggestions might not work for us
- why the typical approach to checklists might make the problem worse
- introduction to Ashley Crockett’s Cognitive Mode Theory
- example list of 10 cognitive modes we might encounter with just one task
- how switching cognitive modes comes with a cost
- how cognitive mode mismatches might cause procrastination
- 7 ways understanding cognitive modes might help us overcome procrastination
- 5 ways that cognitive mode theory can specifically apply to us as writers
Then, come back here to dig deeper into Ashley’s Cognitive Mode Theory and learn more about how understanding our brain might be able to help us.
Ashley Crockett’s Cognitive Mode Theory
Coder/developer and “professional yapper” Ashley Crockett recently shared her insights on productivity in an Instagram Reel, calling the idea Cognitive Mode Theory. The idea is that productivity might work better if we organize our tasks based on the cognitive mode required rather than the outcome of the finished task.
What is Cognitive Mode Theory? Share on XFor example, rather than assigning ourselves a general task of “send newsletter to readers,” we might do better to break down the necessary cognitive modes into separate tasks (research, creativity, administrative, etc.). Ashley’s thoughts and ideas probably resonate with many of us (especially if we’re neurodivergent), so I want to share her insights.
Part 1:
Check out her first video on the topic:
Her ideas struck such a chord that those insights turned into an impromptu series…
Part 2:
Ashley explores how procrastination might be caused by the cost of changing cognitive modes:
Part 3:
Ashley explains how organizing our to-do list by cognitive mode might help:
Part 4:
Ashley realizes that it’s difficult to talk about different types of thinking, as our language for cognitive styles is underdeveloped:
Cognitive Mode Theory: The Formula:
Ashley shares the formula that explains how cognitive mode affects our productivity:
Part 5:
Ashley describes the research she wants to do to investigate the theory:
Part 6:
Ashley describes how she’s now even more scattered, as the response to this series and the research she wants to do has pulled her attention in different directions:
Next Steps with Cognitive Mode Theory
Just yesterday, Ashley built a website to dive deeper into what she wants to explain and research. If her ideas resonate, check out her links into her “why”, her bigger picture, and her description of the theory.
Can learning about Cognitive Mode Theory change how we work? Share on XWatching her insights play out in real time has been fascinating because we can see how she’s applying different cognitive modes to her project. She brainstormed her ideas somewhat off-the-cuff in her Instagram Reels, analyzed her ideas with questions about research and applying the steps of scientific theories, and now is using executive and administrative modes to “publish” her thoughts in a more formal way.
Similarly, to write this post and my guest post on the topic, I had to:
- brainstorm topic ideas
- research and synthesize information, references, and links
- make decisions about what I wanted to say about the topic
- analyze and organize the information
- write creatively and focus on how I’m communicating the information
- edit the information to ensure clarity and coherence
- do administrative and marketing tasks for proper display, publishing, and sharing the post.
Can Understanding Cognitive Mode Theory Help Us as Writers?
In other words, learning about Cognitive Mode Theory (whether any formulas or the broader ideas can be scientifically tested, replicated, and proven or not) has already changed how I think about my work and tasks.
How might understanding Cognitive Mode Theory help us as writers? Share on XLike, of course it’s hard to call up our creative muse if we’re in bill-paying and email-answering administrative mode. We may even apply different cognitive modes if we’re planners vs. if we write by the seat of our pants. We may struggle more with some cognitive modes than others, even if the task’s output may look similar to an outsider, such as writing as a creative vs. as a marketer (i.e., fiction drafting vs query/synopsis/advertising drafting).
More importantly, that understanding has given me ideas about how to approach my work and what to do when I feel stuck or find myself procrastinating. *smile*
Have you struggled with procrastination? Does Ashley’s theory resonate with you? Do you think it might change how you think about your work, tasks, or to-do lists? Does it give you ideas about how to avoid or prevent procrastination? (My WHW posts are limited in word count, but I’m happy to go deeper here if anyone wants more info!)
Comments — What do you think?