Life isn’t easy, we’re all incredibly aware of this. But why is it still so difficult to push ourselves to do the hard things that we know will make the biggest impact on our lives? It’s almost as if you know exactly what you need to do to make a change but there’s a huge blockage that holds you back from actually following through with it and ultimately keeps you stuck where you are.

I was in this place for a lot longer than I’d like to admit. I was stuck and unhappy with my life thanks to a lovely little cocktail of fear, self doubt, limiting beliefs, caring FAR too much about other people’s opinions and quite a bit more. I’ve finally crawled out onto the other side of that mediocre, unfulfilled life and in this post you’ll learn how to start doing the hard things that will lead you to a life you are actually proud of.

 

Do the hard things in silence

 

Too many of us violently overshare what we’re doing and put too much weight on how other people respond. We all have our own limiting beliefs and self doubt and when we tell other people about the things we’re attempting, there’s a very high likelihood that they will subconsciously push their self doubts and limiting beliefs onto us.

 

This, not only, isn’t incredibly motivating, it’s actually probably the last thing we want to hear when we’re already struggling with pushing ourselves past this place of comfort. It’s also quite possible that we start to internalize external limiting beliefs and self doubt from all of these people we’re telling our big dreams to. Now, look at what we’ve done. We now have to deal with our limiting beliefs AND, lucky us, we get to take on these other peoples’ as well.

 

Do yourself a massive favor and move in silence until the task is complete.

 

Gaslight yourself

 

I know, this one sounds a bit odd, but bear with me. When you perceive something as this terribly hard, possibly unachievable task then that is exactly what it will be. Once you change your perception on the task and force your silly little mind to think that it’s going to be the most enjoyable thing you have ever partaken in in your whole entire life then all of a sudden the task becomes 100000x easier.

 

Your mind doesn’t know the difference between thoughts and reality which is why gaslighting it is so effective. Whatever you tell your mind becomes your reality so if you want to get this tough task done tell yourself before, during, and after this task that you are going to/are/had such a great time completing that task. It was so much easier than you could have ever imagined and you are so much more CAPABLE than you could have ever imagined.

 

Boom. Task complete.

 

Do it immediately

 

The longer you give yourself to ponder and second guess and create excuses, (duh) the less likely you are to complete the task. The longer I give myself to enjoy the nice warm, cozy bed at 5 in the morning the less and less likely I am to get out of it.

 

This is a rip the bandaid off scenario. You have to just DO IT. When it is in front of you, you get it done as much as you’d rather do 8 million other things in that moment. You will be so much more proud of yourself for completing the task especially when you really didn’t want to.

 

Law of diminishing intent

 

The law of diminishing intent states that the longer you take to do something the less likely it is that you will do that thing. This is a bit of an extension of “do it immediately” but it warrants a reiteration so that you really engrain it into your stubborn brain.

 

No matter how long you wait, the task is not going to get easier, your mindset isn’t going to change on it, if anything you’re going to start perceiving it as even more difficult and dreading it even more the longer you put it off. When you get that spark, when you get a hint of motivation, when you are faced with a hard task, don’t think, don’t wait… just do it.

 

It’s never going to be perfect 

 

Release the idea that you need to have all the answers, that you need to feel prepared and ready to take this task on. Release the expectation that you’re going to have a perfect outcome. The reality is nothing and no one are perfect and completing this hard task is probably going to be messy as all heck.

 

It’s important that you throw yourself into the fire and just do it and learn and get the practice and gain the confidence to keep putting yourself in those uncomfortable situations and recognizing that, they’re really not as scary as you though they would be.

 

Break it down into small snacks

 

There’s really no need for you to be incredibly overwhelmed by a task if it’s possible for you to break it up into smaller more digestable “snacks”.  Not only is this a great way to ease your mind and make the task seem more achievable but it’ll also give you little hits of dopamine along the way that’ll keep that motivation flowing.

 

See what and where you can break down these tasks and don’t be shy to move slowly and do one thing at a time. We want to make sure we’re efficient and keeping everything sustainable so we don’t get burnt out.

 

Reprogram your mind to crave the hard things

 

We are all constantly being programmed by external stimuli. We have programming from our childhood, from parents, from teachers, from peers, from the news, from every which way we are constantly being programmed. It’s time you took back control over your own mind.

 

Our ego wants to keep us safe and does a very good job of that anytime a hard task arises that could put us in a vulnerable position (failure, unknown outcomes, judgement). When you complete your hard task not only are you gaslighting yourself and telling yourself it was fun and enjoyable but you’re also going to reward yourself with a little treat. Create a trigger so that instead of fear being the first thing that comes up when you have a hard task in front of you, the first thing that comes up is excitement that you’re going to get a treat when you complete your task.

 

Make a to-do list so you can cross it off

 

There’s not a whole lot that’s more satisfying than crossing things off of a to-do list. Especially if those things are the hard tasks you’ve been putting off for an embarrassingly long amount of time.

 

I’m not the biggest fan of to-do lists but while you’re still building up your willpower and discipline let the to-do list be another source of dopamine and another small reward to keep you on track and absolutely demolishing these tasks.

 

Think of your future self

 

Not the future self 5 years from now because who knows who you’ll even be then. The future self 2 hours from now who’s not going to want to do the task anymore then you want to do the task. Quite the contrary, actually. That future you is going to be even less thrilled to do the task because of the law of diminishing intent.

 

Before you do something that could possibly be regrettable or before you decide to run a load of laundry instead of edit that video ask yourself, “am I screwing over my future self right now? Should I just get this over with so I can have it easier later?”

 

Yes… yes you should.

 

Conclusion

 

There’s quite a bit more information and a couple funny jokes (if I do say so myself) in the video down below. If you’d like some more explanation on each of the ways you’re going to make it easier for you to complete hard tasks, have a watch. While you’re at it, you may as well subscribe!

 

xoxoxo