How to Trick Yourself Into Doing Things You Hate

For many people, inertia, laziness, fear, procrastination, self-doubt, endless debating and analyzing, second-guessing, “planning,” and self-sabotage are the default. But for those with an action bias, taking a step forward is the thing that happens automatically, to the extent that it takes effort not to act.

taking action is such a good idea and so easy to do, then why don’t we do it more often?

There are many answers to this question, but most of it comes down to anxiety. We feel like we don’t yet know enough to act, we’re afraid of the outcome, or we’re worried there’s a risk we haven’t prepared for. We feel we don’t have enough authority or clarity or ability to act.

Do something small now, see where it lands you

In your own life right now, think of the task you are procrastinating and try to identify the nature of the anxiety behind it. Take note of the excuses you make for why you can’t act—they’ll give you a clue about your current mindset. Once you’ve identified this underlying fear, start considering some easy ways to begin shifting toward a bias for action instead.

Deliberately schedule the times you will spend planning, researching, etc., and times when you will be taking concrete, results-creating action. For example, block out 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. for writing but reserve the afternoon for planning, studying, or contemplating.

course we need to know how to plan, research, strategize, and carefully think about what we’re doing. Action without motion is just as bad as motion without action. But if we’re honest, most of us have to admit that our problem is not that we take too much action without planning, but that we do not take enough action.

Essentially, you try out different things and “see what sticks.” You take what works and run with it and leave behind what doesn’t. This is nothing more than a process of ongoing refinement via real-world experimentation. Rather than standing back and worrying uselessly about the challenges you may encounter, you actively engage those obstacles and start chipping away at them. Every little action brings a small amount of clarity and a feeling of empowerment. You chisel away at the problem. If you don’t act, however, the problem stays precisely the same size at it always was . . . or even gets bigger!

Being action-oriented, we:

• overcome adversity with resilience
• stay focused and don’t get distracted
• take charge easily and readily and are accountable for our choices
• embrace imperfection, challenge, and “failure”
• are curious and open-minded
• know how to be persistent
• find ways to be resourceful and creative, creating opportunities if we don’t find them

stuck, they must experiment. Thinking may drive doing, but doing just as surely drives thinking. We don’t just think in order to act, we act in order to think,” claim Mintzberg and Westley.

“Successful people know that when they are