You’re almost done with the whole article. You should feel relieved. Instead you feel like you’ve written a bunch of junk.
It’s funny, though. At other times you’ve felt that you’ve written something worthwhile.
Now, however, you feel the urge to read several more articles, add more footnotes, edit it some more, or check your email. Anything but wrap it up and send it in.
It doesn’t matter if it’s a “revise and resubmit” article for a journal or a draft chapter to show to your dissertation advisor. There’s something anxiety-provoking about letting go of your work and putting it out there for the wider world to see.
One very brilliant client of mine told me how she had a similar feeling when she was 9 months pregnant. The baby’s room wasn’t ready, and she had so much more to do. She tried to will herself not to give birth yet. Luckily, her body didn’t cooperate. Now she tries to do the same with journal articles.
This reluctance to release one’s work is so common in academia, that it may well be the norm. In some cases, though, it can become crippling.
Reasons for Reluctance to Release Writing
Here are the kinds of statements that I hear from academics in regards to this issue. Each statement is followed by an alternate way to look at the situation. If you’ve found yourself saying anything like this to yourself, try the alternate way of thinking on for size.