The Effortless Mind Trick That Gets You Into Action
If you have ever had a project or something you just know you had to do but found yourself procrastinating, then you would know what I mean when I say it feels like a tug of war occurring inside of you. You know you have to complete the project but you feel unmotivated to start. While thinking about what you have to do, you are left frozen, irritated with yourself for not getting the work done. If you have ever had this happen to you, I want to invite you to try this trick to get yourself motivated into diving into what you know you have to do, head first.
5 Minute Focus
Sometimes we procrastinate on completing projects when we are aware of all the work that needs to be done to complete it. Dreading how much needs to be done sometimes causes us to delay the process. When there is something that you know you have to do, but are having a hard time getting started on it, take the pressure off your conscience by agreeing with yourself to dedicate 5 to 10 minutes to solely focus on engaging in your project.
Telling yourself this calms down the little voice in your head, the one that’s giving you all the reasons to procrastinate. You begin to rationalize to yourself: 5 minutes isn’t too bad, that’s simple enough, I could easily do that.
Feeling like you’re not going to initially spend hours on it, makes it feel less of an enormous task. The trick with this though is when you get to the end of 5 minutes, ask yourself if you can do another 5 minutes. If you haven’t become totally focused on the task at hand, you probably will find the answer is no.
Most of the time, though, you will give total focus to your project for those 5 minutes and you become fully engaged in what you are doing. At this point, you’re able to go on working without having to force yourself to continue.
How The Trick Works
What you have done is calmed down the negative chatter in your head enough to enable yourself to get into action. Once you’re in the act, it becomes easier to continue on. The most difficult part sometimes is just starting. When comparing 5 to 10 minutes to hours, days or weeks, the 10 minute option is much less friction to your mind, it’s more than willing to choose that option.
Choosing the 5 to 10 minute option allows you to actually begin without having your mind talk you out of it. Once you are in the action, your focus will allow you to continue on with less friction because you’re already in the act and your mind is bringing to you like thoughts of what you’re focusing on. Related ideas and thoughts begin to readily come to mind, keeping you engaged into what you’re doing. Thoughts like what to try out next; how to solve a particular problem; cleaning up a certain section of the project; all things similar to what you’re doing pops up, motivating you to continue on with your project.
By doing the 5 minute focus, you are able to get yourself into action and even stay in action once you begin. That’s much more productive then you could have been if you were dreading the amount of work that laid before you. Next time you are having a tough time starting, I invite you to try this 5 minute focus trick to get you into action sooner.
Originally published at www.begottenlife.com.
