have you ever felt like you really want to get your together but no matter how hard you try you always end up failing you're in a constant state of guilt and self-loathing disappointed because you know you would have achieved your goals if you had just stuck with it I get it I know how you feel for a long time I struggled with procrastination it was tough to do anything that required a little more effort like going to the gym studying for exams or working on my side hustle over time time I learned a strategy to
trick my brain into doing hard things and I want to share it with you spoiler alert it has nothing to do with dopamine detox when we want to achieve something we believe that we need to push ourselves harder so we set a big goal and make a plan to achieve it but what usually happens is one of these two things we either procrastinate or when we start we fail to stay consistent those things happen because our brains are wired to avoid discomfort so when we're fac with something that feels like a major effort we tend
to avoid it the rational part of our brain tells us to do it but the emotional part tells us to keep scrolling this constant internal battle creates stress making it harder to stay focused or motivated but here's the thing this doesn't mean you're incapable it just means you're doing it the wrong way the reality is that our brains aren't wired for drastic changes when we push too hard too fast we we overwhelm ourselves if you truly want to do hard things you have to trick your brain so that the emotional part doesn't get activated every
time you need to do something hard start with the easiest way something so ridiculously easy that it feels impossible to fail at by starting with something easy we avoid overwhelming ourselves and our brain doesn't perceive these actions as a threat we bypass fear and self-doubt and start moving that's the secret to doing hard things once you start moving and succeeding only then can you begin to gradually increase the level of difficulty when we have a goal we often focus on what we want to achieve and how to get there but we forget something important where
we're starting before reaching where you want to go there are levels you need to go through every time you try to do something and fail it's a sign that you are at the wrong level you want to study for 2 hours a day but right now you can't focus for 10 minutes you want to work out five times a week but today you're struggling to get off the couch it's like starting a game at the final level and feel disappointed when you lose at it if you want to win the final level you need to
be able to win the previous ones if you skip those steps you'll only end up having to repeat them when you set challenges and beat them something amazing happens the winner effect the winner effect is when small wins boost your confidence and motivation each win reinforces the behavior and makes it easier to keep going the opposite is also true the more we fail the more likely we are to keep going down that path that's why you should only increase the level of difficulty once you consistently reach your goal this is how you train your ability
to do hard things discipline focus and willpower are like muscles and they need to be trained the same way you don't expect to lift the maximum weight on your first first workout in fact we're prepared to embarrass ourselves when it comes to physical strength it's clear that it needs to be built gradually however when it comes to mental skills we tend to go for big challenges from the beginning forgetting that these skills also need to be built little by little so if you keep failing over and over stop pressuring yourself take a step back and
start at an easier level I once read a quote that said whether you think you can or can't you're right every time you take on a challenge that's too big and fail you strengthen the belief that you're not capable this belief can be the reason why you procrastinate or struggle with consistency the hard way is rarely harder in terms of daily effort but it's often harder psychologically it requires long-term thinking removing limiting beliefs and trusting that small actions will lead to Big results so build your skills and confidence through small victories until what is difficult
becomes easy
