Below, you will find an actual, reoccurring conversation that I have with myself on a weekly basis. If you're an Odyssey writer — or just a procrastinator in general — I'm sure you can relate.
Sunday: I’m going to be productive this week. I’m going to start thinking about topics early. I’m going to start writing this article today. I’m going to write a quality article — I can do that. I’m totally capable of doing that. There’s no way I’m going to save this article to the last minute again. I’m better than that.
Monday: OK. After work, this article is getting done. You’re going to put this brain to work today. After work, of course. But still, it’s going to happen. You’re going to come home, eat dinner, start your article — that’s it. You’re not allowed to go out until you start brainstorming and start writing.
Tuesday: So you went out after work instead of coming home — that’s OK! It’s only Tuesday. You still got this, I believe in you. All you have to is come up with a creative article that can reach a broad audience and potentially go viral. That’s not hard at all. Just start thinking. You definitely have some great ideas up in that brain. Let’s start working on this article now.
Wednesday: So you spent the majority of your day binge watching those twenty seven shows on Netflix. That’s OK! That’s totally normal! Heck, that technically can be considered research if you write an article about binge-worthy television shows! But that also means you should probably finish those twenty seven shows…
Thursday: OK, don’t panic. You didn’t finish any of those shows, but no worries! You can just write that Netflix article next week, but that means you really need to start thinking about this week’s article. Any ideas up there? C’mon. Think. Write. Do something! You can’t save this for the last minute — you promised yourself!
Friday: OK, don’t panic. Again, you’ll be fine. You’ve finished articles at the last minute before. It happens! You were busy this week! Just start tonight, and you’ll be fine. Whatever you do, don’t agree to hangout with all your friends that just got home from college this week. You need to write this article. C'mon. You got this.
Saturday: This is due at noon. It’s 10 a.m. Why do you do this to yourself?