One Way to Overcome Writing Procrastination
Sept 9th, 2021
3 min read
What if you don’t need to begin writing, in order to write?
Written by Noah Tile
Procrastination is a struggle for many students, especially when it comes to writing. The reasons for this can vary from a lack of focus to difficulties initiating tasks. But what if there was an easy way to get started, that didn’t require you to lift a pen, or a keypad?
We won't be able to tackle this issue all at once, so let's look towards one area for now, namely the area of getting started.
Getting started.
In many respects, writing today is easier than ever. The average person can type faster than any human being has ever written by hand. We have grammar and spell-check capabilities that cut out a large part of the editing process.
And yet, staring at a blank page is as dreadful as it has always been. No matter how much help we have, we cannot summon words to appear out of thin air to fill up the white sheet that is our essay.
How can we break the dreaded blank page spell?
My suggestion involves you moving away from that page for a while.
Voice-to-text magic.
One of the downsides of the speed of technological advancements is that we cannot keep up with how revolutionary some of these changes are. Let's do a thought experiment: Imagine living 200 years ago, before radio and typewriters.
Now imagine telling someone that you can speak into thin air and like magic, the words would appear on a page.
They would have no concept of this. And yet, we can do this today. You and I can speak into our phones, and like magic, our words can appear on our screens in live time.
Voice-to-text technology is still a marvel, and its capabilities have grown in recent years. I hope I have convinced you to appreciate this, even a little bit.
“You and I can speak into our phones, and like magic, our words can appear on our screens in live time.”
From nothing to something.
So now let's talk about how to use it to our advantage. The best voice-to-text application that I have used is otter.ai. Also, the Word app on a phone is pretty good too!
In a matter of moments, I can speak into my phone and have a real-time transcription of my every word. I no longer have to stare at my computer screen, waiting for words to arrive. Instead, I can go for a walk in the woods, or pace around the apartment, letting my voice do the work. This allows me to break through the barriers of no words to words, of a blank page to an array of black and white.
It is true that speaking is a different skill than writing. Nonetheless, with Otter, the first drafts of my rambled and disorganized thoughts can come to the surface, from the world of my mind. The AI interface even creates basic sentence structure, such as commas and periods.
This lessens the burden of having to get started.
From here, I can then return to my laptop, guided by the variety of ideas that were once in my head and are now in front of me. Expanding on them no longer seems as challenging as it once was.
There are many different types of writing projects one has to do in school. But the process of going from nothing to something is something that can benefit us all.
You can use otter.ai free for 600 minutes of recording per month, or the Word app, depending on if you have Microsoft Office. Best of luck and get writing (or speaking)!
**Please note, this is article is not therapy or a replacement for it. Engaging with it does not constitute a therapeutic relationship of any kind with the writer. Please seek professional help if needed.**
