Hiya writer friends,
The thing I most struggled with in the early years of my writing business is the aspect of my personality that I have now turned into a superpower.
The cool kids call it hyperfocus.
That is, an intense level of focus on one thing, sometimes for days at a time, while ignoring pretty much everything else (including eating and sleeping).
Before I knew how to channel it, hyperfocus was a curse. It’s not as though the hyperfocus was on the thing I was meant to be doing. Nooo, that would be far too easy. Instead, I’d get hyperfixated on redesigning my website or proofreading every blog post I’d ever written or sending out dozens of pitches right before a deadline for a breaking news story or an important assignment for a prestigious publication. I’d struggle through it back then, gritting my teeth and forcing myself, sometimes through tears and often through high levels of anxiety, to get shit done. I’d often miss deadlines—usually only by an hour or so—but the shame of it, added to the anxiety and the adrenalin, would have me spiraling for days.
Now, that same hyperfocus is one of my biggest blessings. First, because I acknowledge its existence. Second, because I manage it. And third, because I make space for it and have learned to channel it when it shows up.
Last week, for example, I wrote 6 articles in 2 days. I don’t run my life by deadlines anymore, so instead of being stressed out by this turn of events, I was able to get excited about it. All I wanted to do was write articles, and I had several assignments that were waiting to get done. So, I cleared my schedule of everything else and got on board with the prospect of working on articles for as long as the feeling lasted.
I got a week’s worth of deadlines done in about two days. And then, because I was feeling incredibly happy about having finished all my work early and had nothing left to do, my husband and I took our son to London, where we went for a virtual reality gaming session (which I loved) and the Science Museum where we got to be in an RAF Typhoon jet simulator (which I hated).
The aspect of my personality that used to give me the most grief for years is now the aspect of my personality that helps me thoroughly enjoy my work when I’m doing it, and clear up my days and give me time freedom when I’m not.
Before I could see it as a strength, though, I had to stop looking at it as a limitation.
And that’s the thought I wanted to leave you with today.
Cheers,
Natasha