We all have that feeling. I do, you do, we all do. You know what it is, without me even saying it… because it’s in the title. Having to work when you don’t want to sucks, big time. Sometimes, we need to just suck it up and push through though. It sounds hard, but it really isn’t as bad as you’d think!
1) Admit To Yourself You’re Procrastinating
Hey, if you’re reading this article, then you’re already good on this step! You’ve admitted to yourself that you’re procrastinating, realized it’s not the best for you, and are actively trying to change! Good for you! This is often, if not always, the hardest step for people to achieve. When people are comfortable, or lazy, they find every excuse possible *not* to change.
They’ll tell themselves what they’re doing is okay, or the best thing for them, when the exact opposite is the truth. It really is unfortunate, because the media and today’s way of life only go to grow the issue. That’s a discussion for another article, though. Point stands, congrats on taking the first step and getting here!
2) Interrupt Your Procrastination String
Now that you’re reading about how to help yourself, it’s time to take the first step, which you’re well on your way to taking. You’ve partially done it already! It’s time to stop doing nothing, and start doing *something*. Reading this article kind of counts, but I mean something productive, like getting some extra work on your business in, or maybe some chores around the house, something that helps you.
Put on some upbeat, energetic music, and get to work! I use this every day, I’m up at 8AM, first thing I do is get my Spotify playlist in my ear (and some caffeine too!), and get my nose to the grindstone. Do I want to get up every morning at 8AM? Not always, but I still do it, knowing that is what’s best for me in the end.
Regardless of what you’d do, the best time to do it is now! Well.. after you’re done reading the article, but this is the last delay! I promise you, I speak from experience here, doing it now will be easier than doing it in 5 minutes, even easier than doing it in 10, and much much easier than in 20 minutes. The point being, the longer you wait, the harder it’ll be to get up and going. There’s no time like the present, and it’s your job to get up and take advantage of it!
3) Once You’ve Started, Don’t Stop!
Alright, you’re up and moving, that’s great! Now, keep going, don’t stop! Keep that music going, light up the whole area nice and bright, and step to it! Now that you’re up and doing things, doesn’t it feel good? Actually being productive, producing results, that’s good!
Now, make sure you *DON’T SIT BACK DOWN*. If you do, you’ll be worse off than when you started. You’re up, doing good for yourself, you’re owning it! I’m happy for you! Remember, momentum is the cause of some of the greatest forces known to man! Now you’re the one in control of your own momentum.
4) Keep Your Streak Going
The feeling you get when you made that change was good, wasn’t it? That’s nothing compared to seeing how many days you’ve done good in a row! There’s been a method going around lately for maintaining productivity, you may have heard of it, called the “Jerry Seinfeld Method”.
In short, this method involves getting a large calendar that displays a whole year on one page (or ripping up one and mounting all 12 pages together), and putting it up on a wall you see all the time.
In his case, every day that he wrote new jokes, he uses a big red marker and puts an “X” over the day. This way, he can see how many days in a row that he’s made jokes, starting his chain. Next, he says that his job is to not break the chain. It may not be writing jokes that marks your daily X, but whatever it is for you, this method holds you accountable for your own actions. If you miss a day, you’ll see that day without an X on the big calendar, as many times as you walk by that wall.
Another way to think of this is with Newton’s laws of motion. His first law states that “Every object persists in its state of rest or uniform motion in a straight line unless it is compelled to change that state by forces impressed on it.” Most of us know it as “An object at rest tends to stay at rest, and an object in motion tends to stay in motion.”
Whichever way you know it, that means you too! If you’re sitting on your couch, you’ll tend to continue sitting on your couch. If you’re up and about, you’ll tend to stay up and about. Once you start working, bettering yourself, whatever it is you’re doing, you’ll tend to keep doing those good things, which will help you in the long run!
5) Reward Yourself For Your Work!
Hooray, you’re doing it! You’ve started your streak, and been sticking to it for awhile. Treat yourself, you’re doing good! Maybe after one week you go out to dinner or get ice cream. After a month, maybe get a spa day or something relaxing. Whatever reward you choose, as long as you’re happy with it, that’s what matters!
Once you start rewarding yourself for continuously working, your brain starts to associate good feelings with working, and it doesn’t feel like work anymore! The rewards don’t have to stop, though, because once your business grows big enough, the dividends from that can be your reward, isn’t that awesome? The gift that keeps on giving!
6) Long Story Short..
There’s no better time to do something than right now! It may be hard to work when you don’t want to now, but the longer you wait, the harder it’ll be to get started. Once you get started, don’t give up, keep at it. There’s gold in them hills! Next, use that momentum to build something great, and then start rewarding yourself for it!
Short enough? Anyways, the real moral here is that you might have to force yourself to start, but by the end, you’ll enjoy what you do, and it’ll be rewarding for you the whole way through! Once you’ve worked enough, you may very well reach the true reward, escaping the rat race!
