You’re Not Lazy: How to Overcome Resistance and Start Writing

by Rochelle Melander

“For all of us, the miracle isn’t that we finished, the miracle is that we have the courage to start.” —John Bingham

John Bingham wrote that about running, but he could have been talking about writing.

People who procrastinate writing may have difficulty starting. They sharpen their pencil. Get that second cup of coffee or warm up their tea. Straighten the house. Some make it to their desk. Others don’t—and worry about being lazy or not committed.

You’re not lazy.

People who have ADHD struggle to start because they experience resistance to anything that’s not unique and challenging.

Dr. William Dodson, an American psychiatrist who specializes in Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, developed INCUP as a tool to support people with ADHD.

Dodson believes that people with ADHD have an interest-based framework instead of an importance-based one. If you’re a neurotypical, it makes total sense to organize your life around what needs to get done. Why wouldn’t you? But if you have ADHD, life might look different to you.

For Dodson, people with ADHD need at least one of the following five elements to overcome resistance and invest in a task:

Interest: Do you care or feel curious about this task?

Novelty Does that task have that new, sparkly feeling?

Challenge: Does the task have the right amount of challenge?

Urgency: Do you feel urgency around the task?

Passion: Does the task connect to your purpose or core values?

Here are tools for using the INCUP framework to help you tackle starting. Remember, you only need one of these to overcome resistance and write.

Interest

When you try to write in order, you’re going to have to write the boring bits. Well, that can be tough if you have ADHD. So don’t. Write what interests you. When you get to the tough bits, consider: How can I make this more delicious to write and read?

Novelty

Much like interest, it helps to make your task feel fresh. Trick your brain by changing environments, lighting a candle, or sipping a new beverage. Challenge yourself by writing the passage in a novel way—as a list or fairy tale or holiday adventure.

Challenge

Overcoming tiny challenges gives you a boost of dopamine. Break your task into small steps so that you can reward yourself after every win. If you need more excitement, set a timer and write against the clock.

Urgency

You don’t need a real deadline to give yourself urgency. Many of my clients use our sessions as a deadline to get writing done. Set a deadline pact with a colleague. Join a critique group. Or use a contest or submission opportunity to create urgency.

Passion

Connect your task to your core value: Before you even begin, when you’re thinking about what to write, think about how it matches up to your core value. What do you care about? What’s your purpose? How will it serve others?

For the Win

If none of these work, you can always pretend you’re an astronaut. Mel Robbins has a technique called “The Five Second Rule” that helps people move from idea to action in five seconds or less. In this technique, the minute you have an urge to act on a goal, count down from five and move when you get to the number one. Since you’ve scheduled your writing time, use that as a cue to start counting down. Before you get to one, start writing. Or, as I like to do, shout, BLAST OFF and then write!

If you need more support, consider joining Show Up and Write this week to see if that’s right for you. SIGN UP HERE