Do you know that feeling when you have something to do, but … you just don’t feel like doing it right now? What are you doing then? Most probably doing something else, or procrastinating and wasting your time in side activities … or trying to mobilize? Usually, I pass through the first two states and at the end, I get to try to motivate myself to do the job. In this post, I’ll share with you how I get motivated to complete tedious tasks because this might be useful for you too. Feel free to steal my methods and let me know how it works in the comments below.
How to complete annoying, difficult and unpleasant tasks?
Tip 1. Check the objective reasons why I’m not doing this right now. Am I hungry? Tired? Angry? If any of the above is true, I fix the problem and try to get back to the task again.
Tip 2. I determine why the task I do not want to start is important. What result do I expect from it? Why do I want it? Is it really necessary? Sometimes I happen to find that a task that I’ve listed on the To-Do list some time ago is no longer up to date, and it makes no sense. In that case, I change it or it just drops off my list. If it turns out that it still needs to be done, the “big picture” and vision of the final result helps to build motivation to complete it.
Tip 3. I figure out what is the next action I need to do to move the tedious task forward and get closer to the result I want. For example, if I have to go to a dentist, (that’s the perfect example of a thing I have to do but don’t want :D) the thing I can and should do is call the dentist’s office and book an hour. If I focus only on the next action and not on the whole task, (don’t think about the drill :P) performance is much easier – especially for complex tasks consisting of multiple step-by-step actions.
Feel free to share your comments on how things are when you apply these three easy tips or maybe add some more tips on how you mobilize yourself to complete tedious tasks.
If you want to learn more on how to complete annoying, difficult and unpleasant tasks and get more ideas on how to deal with them fast, I highly recommend this book:
“Eat that frog” is a metaphor for taking up the most challenging task of your day first. The book helps you deal with procrastination, prioritize and get the right things done.
The Action Workbook is also very practical and helps you put the principles of the book into practice so you eat those difficult and unpleasant tasks right away.
Read more: How To Manage A Heavy Workload?
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