Thread by @raulpacheco

I am going to be very open and vulnerable, for those of you who feel stuck in your academic writing, for those of you thinking you are not making any progress. In the process, I am going to dispel a myth about me. Ever since I was a child, people thought I never got distracted.

I was a straight "A"'s kid, so everyone (and their parents, sadly) thought "wow, what an uncanny ability to focus and concentrate". Well, it's June 8th of 2019 and on this day let me dispel this myth: I get distracted. VERY easily distracted. I'm like any other human being.

A couple of year ago, I wrote about 6 strategies I use to regain focus raulpacheco.org/2017/01/6-stra… because I get so easily distracted, I need to get to work again quite fast, or the distraction gap widens even more. Second myth: I NEVER get stuck with my #AcWri. This is another myth.

Five years ago, I wrote this blog post raulpacheco.org/2014/05/five-s… (5 strategies to get your academic writing unstuck) as a narration of what I do when MY writing gets stuck. When I feel at my most stuck, I use prompts to help me get words out raulpacheco.org/2017/03/using-…

One reason why I pack so much work in one workday is because having such short periods of time available for each thing I have to do forces me to be laser-focused. On a single day I had to
- train volleyball (2 hours)
- go to school (6 hours)
- train dance (1 hour)
- do homework

I come from a military family. Discipline, routine and system are part and parcel of my life. BUT I am still easily distracted. But on the courts, I can't be distracted. One time, I was playing against the hottest guy. I got distracted. He hit (really hard) and opened my block.

And of course, when he opened my block, he also hit me in the face (he apologised profusely and I got a date out of that, but that's another story). On the court, on the dance floor, whenever I need to perform I need to be focused, or to regain focus quite quickly.

So, my one piece of advice if you're feeling like you're spinning your wheels:
- if you can't write, read
- if you can't read, walk/do something else
- let your impostor syndrome (what @JoVanEvery calls, your "gremlins") talk, but don't listen to it
- go back to work, refreshed.

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ADDENDUM (thanks, @tonyver45) - if you feel stuck, try to write a couple of Quick Wins, stuff that you can knock off your To Do List quite easily raulpacheco.org/2016/07/keepin… - once you do this, you may regain confidence/focus (also 30 min per Quick Win works! raulpacheco.org/2016/07/the-30…