About a year and a half ago, I announced my intention to write a book. 

I was determined.  I turned down various personal and professional opportunities, so as to devote myself to writing. I made a strong commitment to myself, and to my best friend, that I would write 200 pages by a specific date.

I didn’t write.

It’s embarrassing.

I could blame it on the usual pet scapegoats: Work, Family, House/home, “Obligations” etc. etc. And I probably could write a pretty convincing paragraph about how I was so busy attending to all these things that I didn’t have time to write.  But that’s not true.

One way that I know it’s not true:

I have a game called “Jetpack Joyride” on my iPhone.  It’s a simple game to learn- press the screen to blast off and fly, and release to descend and run.  You collect coins and complete various “missions” like zig-zagging through zappers.  As you complete missions you “earn” new costumes, abilities, and vehicles.

I’ve “earned” them all.  There’s no more costumes to achieve.  The game has to just give me more coins instead.  Coins are not rewarding.  I have nothing to spend them on because I’ve already max-upgraded all the power-ups and vehicles.  Oh, one more thing!  I’ve played 2,821 separate games of Jetpack Joyride, totaling 103 hours, 4 minutes, and 48 seconds.  I’m not kidding- the game keeps track of this statistic in the “Achievements” section.

It’s tremendously reassuring to know I’m not alone with doing stupid stuff like the above.  That I’m not completely pathetic, just human.  A writer friend of mine who wrote a brilliant novel  told me that he wasted 300 hours on his phone on his path to mindfulness.  (I almost felt “proud” when he told me this. “Hmm, Adrian wasted 300 hours, and I only wasted 100!”  Until I considered that Jetpack Joyride was only ONE of the games on my iPhone.  We won’t talk about Plants vs. Zombies or MotoHeroz.)

My mindfulness teacher, Shinzen Young, talked about his own challenges with procrastination.  Years ago he received a huge advance from a major publisher, for a two book deal.  He just couldn’t get himself to write the books.   He had to give back the advance.

Back to me- if you’re reading this now, it means that I finished and posted this article!  How did I do it, instead of adding another hour in my Jetpack Joyride “achievements”?

I had help.

A friend suggested I drop any preoccupation about extrinsic outcomes from writing (such as prestige, royalties, interviews with Oprah for her book club, the Noble Prize in Literature, for example.)  Instead, she suggested, just focus on the benefit of having a “writing life.” 

Her suggestion hit me just right.  I took a deep breath.  Yes, I enjoy writing for its own sake!  I enjoy sharing useful ideas with others, and writing can be a medium for this!  That’s what’s most important! 

The idea of writing a book?  Overwhelming.  Having a writing life?  That, I could do!

Except, I didn’t.  Again, I wanted to.  But I just couldn't get myself to sit down and WRITE!

The solution came to me when I was in the middle of a week-long retreat: Just like I have an accountability structure for my Mindfulness Practice, I needed one for writing.  I knew just the group, and I asked them about it the next weekend at the retreat I taught. 

The deal: Friday of every week I’d email a new essay.  If they don’t receive it, on Saturday they will send me an email to ask me why not.  Then, I have to write a response to each person (no cut-and-paste.)  It would take just as long to write email excuses to everybody as it would to just write the article!  So, might as well write it!

Next week’s article will discuss other uses for Behaviorally-Oriented Support and Accountability Structures!