We have written about writers’ difficulties in quite a few places because our clients often face these challenges. This is an enormous topic, spanning culture, psychology, theories of education, social science, disability studies, politics, and more! Perhaps one day we’ll write a book! But for now we’ll keep exploring writing difficulties from different angles. Today we’ll try to drill down to the root of the many ways we get stuck in writing.
The root is simple: all of us, regardless of skill level or dedication, are less disciplined than we’d like to be. And this is one of the most human things about us. We need to be kind with our inability, because we’re up against a fundamental limitation of all sensitive, intelligent, ambitious creatures: akrasia.
Akrasia
Akrasia is a term from ancient Greek philosophy that refers to an internal conflict where our better judgment settles on a course of action, but we fail to follow through. In other words, akrasia involves both (1) knowing what you need to do, and (2) doing something else (or nothing at all). We think “akrasia” is more precise than “anxiety,” and precision is essential for breaking below the apparent but unhelpful way this stuff appears to us. That said, a lot of akrasia manifests as anxiety.
We all experience mild forms of akrasia: eating that extra piece of cake, dipping into social media when we should be studying, or making that dubious purchase. Note that we are all capable of pulling ourselves out of akrasia in many situations. Akrasia is a feature of life and need not be the end of the world.
Writerly akrasia is stronger: it’s what we might call an akrasia storm. This is when we get stuck, which triggers various feelings that d undermine our focus, which gets us more stuck, and tired, and the whole process snowballs, taking on a life of its own.
At the extreme end, we are in the landscape of anxiety disorders of all sorts, where akrasia storms persist beyond specific situations, or strike so hard as to be debilitating, rather than merely difficult. If this is your situation, we recommend seeing a therapist, if possible. They can help immensely with management of what seem like insurmountable inner difficulties.
The Causes of Akrasia Storms
As with actual storms, many factors typically come together to produce akrasia storms. Many different stressors can contribute. What might be trivial to handle for one person might just steamroll another person.
Here are some common stressors that contribute to writerly akrasia storms: facing a deadline, being overcommitted, receiving harsh comments, being told to massively revise or rewrite something we’re attached to, interpersonal turmoil, insufficient sleep, and the infinite scroll of social media. Academics in particular face a few special ones: writing for a dissertation or tenure committee, imagining committee feedback, and office politics.
Whether a stressor is important depends on general tendencies to self-doubt, self-flagellation, self-criticism, time pressure, general level of ambition, personal standards and, of course, the stakes of a specific project. A lot of this—stressors, tendencies, and stakes—are context-sensitive.
This is not an exhaustive list, of course, but it tracks important themes of our experience as writers and coaches. The key point is: akrasia storms are complex knots of many causes that feed off each other.
How to Unravel an Akrasia Storm
if you’re stuck in an akrasia storm, you have to do the most counterintuitive thing in the world: patiently, kindly unravel the knot so you can get back to work. You need to get clear and discerning about what’s going on below the surface. Akrasia storms present as a generalized “ugh!” feeling and the sudden need to do anything else. But the only way through is to find a thread to loosen, and then to carefully loosen it. Finding the thread takes discernment; loosening the thread takes kindness. Neither is especially available when we’re stuck.
Yet, we can move toward kindness even here. Sometimes a “fake it ’till you make it” attitude helps, and so repeating affirmations can help loosen things up. At other times breathing and movement can help to at least distract us long enough so that we don’t spiral further. Sometimes, personifying your akrasia as a silly character can really lighten things up. Sometimes just stepping away from the situation for a bit is enough. Context is all-important here; you may have to try a few different things.
If kindness is not available, you can also try reframing the situation. Write down your goals an then break them down into SMART goals. This helps with discernment regardless of kindness—that can come later. As we said, akrasia storms are complex, and the solution to them is complex, context-sensitive, and requires creativity.
Take heart! Every writer goes through these difficult moments. We are united in our hidden, slightly shameful battles with akrasia. As long as we don’t over-identify with the difficulties and develop a kind, patient discernment, we will be all right.