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Quick Topics: Procrastination and the Holidays

December 17, 2019 | Filed under: Anna Williams and tagged with: Anna Williams, conflicting priorities, creative process, deadlines, editor, editorial tasks, gift buying, holiday season, holidays, motivation, procrastination
Procrastination and the holidays
Aleksandra Kolosova © 123RF.com

For a quick conversation starter today, let’s talk procrastination. “Procrastination is the assassination of motivation,” goes an unattributed quote. But is it?

I’ve worked with business writers who, to the contrary, become more motivated the more they procrastinate. With the pressure of an imminent deadline and the looming threat of failure, inspiration strikes and creative juices flow. But until they reach that pivotal point in time, their efforts to generate the required content for a report or a proposal are in vain.

I prefer to plan out my schedule and check off editorial tasks well in advance of my deadlines. However, occasionally I put off a task again and again, either because I have conflicting priorities or because I’m too unmotivated to tackle it, until suddenly, when time is truly of the essence, my brain kicks into gear and the necessary edits come sharply into focus.

This struck me as a relevant topic for the holiday season, as decorating and dinner planning and gift buying accumulate at this time of year to create looming deadlines of their own. I like to check Black Friday sales on Amazon and order gifts ahead of time; my husband prefers to procrastinate until the last possible moment and then embark on a frantic gift hunt.

Is procrastination a part of your process, as an editor or a holiday shopper?

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We hope you have a wonderful holiday season! The Editors’ Weekly will return on Jan. 7, 2020.

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Previous Quick Topics post by Anna Williams: Quick Topics: Born or Made

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Written by Anna Williams

Anna Williams is a freelance technical editor, writer and consultant in Edmonton, Alberta. She was the managing editor of the Editors’ Weekly from 2013 to 2020.

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3 Responses to "Quick Topics: Procrastination and the Holidays"

  1. Anita Jenkins says:
    December 17, 2019 at 9:17 am

    Anna, you are a real resource. Thank you for keeping Editors’ Weekly alive and thriving for quite a few years now. And thank you to all the contributors.

  2. Virginia Durksen says:
    December 17, 2019 at 3:30 pm

    Procrastination allows me just enough time and motivation to figure out what matters and what doesn’t. It’s a method, not a flaw. Like writing, editing is a creative act that sometimes needs the empty spaces we steal from the far side of deadlines.

    Of course there are other methods.

    Thanks, Anna, for all your wonderful editing over the past year. And for finding and supporting the diverse group of contributors that put Editors Weekly at the top of my reading list.

    1. Rosemary Shipton says:
      December 17, 2019 at 6:19 pm

      I agree – you’re doing a great job, Anna, and all your readers are most appreciative.

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