We keep on switching tabs whenever we are working on our laptops. Getting bored from our usual work and when daily habits feel boring you feel the urge to give up. Even when we want to start something new, an unusual force drags us down from doing something productive. It's the resistance that makes the process more difficult. We feel resistance when the task is too difficult or if the task is too boring. Then we make excuses and postpone the task to procrastinate. Procrastination feels so good because it is the comfort zone for us. It doesn't require more effort. We can watch TV however we want like lying on the sofa or grabbing a packet of chips for a movie night. But instead, it becomes difficult when you have to write an 800 words document or a blog post. That time we think about some kind of motivation so that we can just get rid of the task asap. So how we can break the shackles and just get things done as soon as they are assigned to us?
The 5min rule to get things done. The 5min rule is pretty simple and easy to follow. Whenever you feel the resistance of getting started with a task negotiate with yourself to do the task for just 5mins. The thing is, it is difficult to just start but once you get with the pace you continue the task. You just need to get into the flow state so that you don't get distracted again. I used to feel the resistance when I had scheduled some coding-related stuff on my to-do list. I always have this battle going in my mind about whether I should just skip this part of the list. So, I negotiate with myself that I am going to do this thing for just 5mins. But after 5mins also I am still on it. Coding is that kind of stuff that gets your mind engrossed very quickly. Once I get into the flow state I lose my attention over time than I probably continue the course for almost 1hr or something. That's the maximum I can go 😅.
The law of least effort. Less the effort more the probability of getting things done. Humans follow the law of least effort. We try to do the things which require less effort. So when you feel the resistance arrange your environment in such a way so that you don't require much effort to get it started. I used to procrastinate a lot on my phone. So I kept my phone at such a distance that I will have to get up to scroll some Twitter. When I used to feel the resistance when I wanted to practice Tabla [Indian Instrument] as I had to get the whole instrument out of my bag and then practice. So I tricked myself by just opening the bag and then playing it without getting the instrument out of the bag. I just used to open the bag's chain and then practice. As the Tabla is quite heavy I skipped the process of applying some extra effort to get that out and then practice. And, guess what I practiced it every day. Before I just used to practice once or twice a week. Likewise, you can find these mental shortcuts which make your process easier. The easier it is the more you can get done.
"I get to" VS "I have to"
Your mentality even works on the type of words you use. When you have something to get done and you use words like "I have to get this done" then the resistance experienced is much stronger. I used to feel this when I used to sit down to write a blog. I started writing blogs as a fun thing just for the sake of expressing myself. But once the readership grew it become a kind of struggle for me to post thrice a week. I was trying to keep up with the mark of writing 3 blogs per week. I started thinking "I have to write the blog because we have to post it this Saturday". Then my consistency was derailing and also the quality of my writing. So I reframed my thinking and started looking at it as a fun factor to write blogs and stuff. Even I took a week off from it. So even the word-formation can make a difference between your goals. Words control your behaviour more, rather than just forming sentences.
So these are the methods that you can follow to break the resistance and focus more on your work. The conclusion is that you need to take some effort in bite-size so that you just get rid of the pull.
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