In this little post, including 3 tips (a 2-minute read), I’ll tell you exactly how to trick your mind into doing any task. Even if you hate it.
Tip #1.
Wait, is this the only thing I need to do?
Ohhh… This feeling when you need to do something important, something your future self will thank you for but you Just. Can’t. Get. Going. The task feels DAUNTING and TikTok just begs to be opened. That’s your brain trying to conserve energy. Yes. That’s it.
What’s the solution?
Make the task as easy as possible. Not ‘do homework,’ but ‘write a sentence of the English essay.’ ‘Clean my room’ becomes ‘clean my desk’ or even ‘put the notebooks away.’ A good rule of thumb is making it something you can finish in 2 minutes.
Breaking up tasks into smaller chunks is a real-life cheat code. Make your mind think, “is this the only thing I need to do?” and starting will become ten times easier.
Tip #2.
I must do it.
Why do you brush your teeth? Because you enjoy it? Probably not. You do it because it’s non-negotiable. Same with school. You don’t go there because you really want to listen to a lecture on a Monday morning at 8 am, bored and sleep-deprived. You go to school because you have to.
Treat your tasks the same way. Make them non-negotiable.
How exactly?
Here are my favorite examples: Asking your friend to check up on you in [insert time you need to do the task]. Setting a timer or even saying the task out loud will also do the trick. Just make it non-negotiable and do it no matter what.
Tip #3.
I really want to watch some reels…
Are winners handed trophies before the race? No. So why do you give yourself the reward before doing the work?
I’m not saying stop watching reels or YouTube. Instead, you can use them as a tool for achieving your goals. And what if I say that using this strategy, you’ll feel twice as happy watching them?
Let me explain.
The harder it is to get something, the better it feels when you finally do. So let’s use this principle for our purpose.
Next time you have a task to do, set a reward for it. It can be anything you crave. Some examples include: a dessert, short-form entertainment, texting your friends.
First do the thing you need to do and only then get the reward. You’re literally hacking your brain with this trick. You both do what you need to do and feel more pleasure from the reward because you earned it. Isn’t that amazing?
So to recap:
Tip #1.
Make it as easy as possible.
Tip #2
Make it non-negotiable.
Tip #3.
Make it rewarding.
See you soon!