đź’Ą How To FIX Decision Paralysis
Why you freeze while writing and how to fix it!
Hi writer,
I talk to a lot of people who want to write more. Too often I hear, "I’ve just got to figure out _________ and then I’ll start writing again.”
No.
They don’t start writing again.
They’ve convinced themselves it’s because they’re still thinking.
But what they’re actually doing is giving in to the fear of making the wrong choice.
I don’t know about you, but I can delay writing (for days, weeks, months) because I can’t quite decide what to do with the next thing. It doesn’t matter if the next thing is the next scene, or a quick essay, or a whole damn book: if I let myself think about it for a while, I get confused. I know I can come up with a better idea, so I’d better let myself think about it for a while longer.
Looping
Looping is what I call the spiral of thinking that goes like this:
Oh, no, I’m confused!
I’ll think a bit more about the problem.
By jove, I’ve got it! Wow! This is great!
But… what if I thought a little more? I bet I could think of something even better.
If there’s something better out there, then the idea I came up with isn’t actually that good. Might as well throw it out and start over.
I’ll just think a little more about the problem.
Repeat for approximately forever.
Writers have thinky brains.
Not only are writers’ brains good at coming up with new solutions to problems, their brains love to do this work.
Here’s the problem:
When we ask our brains to re-think about a problem, the brain will hop to it, excited to be asked. I got this, boss!
Our brains will almost always come up with a better solution.
They can do this looping until the end of time. (This truth is painful to realize. We will never reach a “best” solution because the brain can repeat this looping forever.)
“Once I know all the directions this scene/chapter/book could go, I’ll be able to figure out the best course of action.”
My darling, THIS IS FALSE.
You’ll honestly never be able to think your whole way around any idea, big or small. And if you try, you’ll keep getting new ideas, which will reinforce your desire to keep thinking (and they’ll often feel like “better” ideas just because they’re so new and shiny). I’ve almost got it! Just a little more time, and I’ll know exactly the best thing to do.
Nope.
You simply have to make a decision. Almost any decision will work. There’s no right decision, and there are fewer wrong decisions than we think there are.
You have to make a decision, and then you make that decision work for you.
You’ll do this a hundred times a chapter. Thousands of times in a book.
Sometimes, of course, we need to take time to think about what will work for the next part of our memoir or novel, but then we have to decide and move forward without looping, without rethinking our decision (remember, the brain wants to think, and will always come up with a new idea. The bran will never not be able to do this).
Have you been stuck on making a writing decision?
TRY THIS:
Give yourself ten minutes today to think about it, and then decide.
You don’t need longer than ten minutes, no matter how small (what kind of coat should he buy?) or big (should I write a historical romance or space opera?).
Putting that concrete time limit on the thinking/decision portion will move you. Set a timer! When it dings, time’s up! Time to write forward!
Remember, my sweet writing friend, there’s no right answer. The only truly wrong answer is to keep putting off the decision.
love,
Rachael
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PS - I’m restricting my time teaching this year as I prioritize my own writing, but I’ll be teaching 90 Days to Done and 90 Day Revision in Sept-Nov (and then not again till mid-2025). If you’re interested, make sure you sign up on this form to hear 24 hours before the classes open to my full mailing list! (In these classes, we bust THROUGH the looping/thinking and get right to the writing. Writers complete their books. It’s life-changing.) Registration will open in the first week of August.