One of the drawbacks of not having a detailed, sequenced plan is that at many points in a project there are lots and lots of things that could be done next, with none of them being the obvious next thing to do. This will tempt you to do none of them, i.e. to procrastinate. You may succumb to this temptation by telling yourself that the proper choice will be clear after spending some more time thinking, or that it would be better to come back to the project later when you’re fresh, or that you really ought to deal with some urgent unrelated problems first, or that you work better under pressure and so you’ll wait until time is short.
This situation and the accompanying temptation comes and goes, and when it comes around it is good to have automatic strategies for dealing with it. Here are a few suggestions.
First, sort through the list of possible next tasks and narrow it down to the most important ones to accomplish, the ones that will lead to disaster if you don’t complete them successfully. If it really is simple confusion about what to do next, this will clear your mind, and reminding yourself of the potential risk may be enough motivation to get back to work.
If that isn’t successful, then there is something more than simple confusion at work; for whatever reason, you are inclined not to proceed, and you need to get over it. The next step is to sort through the list identifying the most distasteful tasks. This may seem odd, but the idea is that you need to force yourself back on track, and it would be best if you can do so by an effort of will, out of a sense of duty. Choosing something distateful and forcing yourself to do it accomplishes four things: (1) it demonstrates to you that you have the strength of will to carry on even when you don’t want to; (2) it reminds you that the distasteful tasks are never as distasteful in the doing as they are in the anticipation; (3) it serves as a mild rebuke to you for letting yourself get off track; and (4) it gets at least one distasteful task out of the way.
If this isn’t successful, then you are dangerously close to grinding to a dead halt. Sort through your list of tasks until you find one that you can bring yourself to do, and then do it. Do what you can. As Elisabeth Elliot puts it, “Do the next thing.” It may not be much. It may not get you much closer to your goal. But often the simple act of working towards your goal will be enough to rebuild your confidence and carry you through a rough spot.
