Everyone has things they hate to do, but need to do anyway. Sometimes it is doing basic chores that need to be done. In other cases, it’s the boring part of an otherwise interesting project. People who get things finished (as opposed to people who just get things started) have mastered the ability to push through the things they hate doing, to work on the things they love.
Getting over activities you hate means combating a special type of procrastination. Everyone procrastinates. Even on things that they normally enjoy doing. I occasionally procrastinate with writing, even though it is one of my favorite things to do.
While a few minutes or an hour of procrastination for a neutral task happens occasionally, you can procrastinate for years on the jobs you really hate. If there are things on your to-do list that never make it to the top, you probably know which jobs these are.
Stomaching Unappetizing Work
There are a few strategies you can use to make bad tasting tasks a little more pleasant. The first is simply to focus on it. You might have noticed that you chew a lot more when you don’t like the food in your mouth. This is probably an instinctive reaction to force you to carefully examine what you’re going to eat before you swallow.
You can do the same thing with the work you don’t like. By focusing on boring or awful work, it is easier to overcome your reflex to spit it out and work on something else. I’ve often found that focusing on work intensely can even make me like tasks I once hated. I normally hate cleaning, but if I invest 100% of my attention towards it, the chore becomes a lot more fun.
Normally, the first reaction to unenjoyable tasks is to “get it over with”. Finishing as quickly as possible so you can move on to something better. However, with this attitude, it is a lot easier to never get started at all, and procrastinate forever.
Try taking a reversed approach. The next time you have an activity you hate, commit to focus on it completely. Invest all of your mental energy and concentrate on the activity until there is nothing else in the world. You might be surprised how much easier the task becomes when you do this.
Make it an Art
Sometimes tasks can be unenjoyable simply because there is no quality in doing them. For me, writing an article is more enjoyable than cleaning dishes. While an article has incredible depth, ranging from complete trash to life affirming, dishwashing is a narrower activity. I either clean the dishes or they stay dirty. That on-off approach usually makes a task incredibly boring.
One solution I’ve found is simply to take that on-off task and give it more depth. See your boring activity as a previously unrecognized art form you can master. When you give an activity more depth, the interest level goes way up. More importantly, it becomes easier to focus on the task completely, making it easy to swallow.
Several years ago I did part-time work as a janitor. Although this wasn’t a glorious position, I found I was able to enjoy it by doing this step. Instead of seeing my job as being an on-off task, I gave it more depth. I saw that there were many ways I could increase the quality of what I did. Taking on those little steps made the work far more enjoyable.
Leverage Yourself With Another Goal
Despite your best efforts, the first two steps might not work. In those cases, trying to transform an ugly task into a beautiful activity won’t help. You might be better off just trying to get the work done, instead of wrapping a bow around it.
The first way you can push through the muck is to use your goals as leverage. Reconnect with why you started important projects and how any activity fits into your bigger picture of success. If you can do this, you can bring some of the motivation towards your final goal and use it to finish an ugly task.
This is why it is important to constantly remind yourself of your goals, and why they are important to you. Those reminders are often necessary to push through the tasks that don’t excite you.
Don’t Do the Work at All
The best solution is to simply not do the work you don’t enjoy. This may sound like a fantasy, but there are ways you can get away with avoiding the stuff that doesn’t interest you:
- Outsource or delegate it to someone else.
- Eliminate it from your project. (Is it really necessary?)
- Find a better way to do it. Technology and tricks can often help you shortcut boring steps into ones that are more interesting.
Ultimately, you should try to minimize the amount of work you need to do, but don’t enjoy. Productivity shouldn’t be about pushing through the muck, but enjoying work you love. However, if you can’t get yourself to stop procrastinating on an ugly task, these are a few ways to move through it.
How do you motivate yourself to complete tasks you hate? Please share your tips in the comments below.
Also check out: 12 Key for Building Trust
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Hmm. Your first tip is so counterintuitive, it just might work! I love your second tip. It reminds me of “whistle while you work.” Your third and last tips are solid.
I just had to laugh when your photo example of chores we hate to get done was dishes. I did them for a family of six since starting from when I was 6 years old till I was at least 16, when my younger sisters finally started helping out with that awful chore. I thought I’d never get over hating doing the dishes. But, then I realized how efficient and immaculate I got at that task after all those years of practice, and now I take pride in it and enjoy it. ; )
I focus on how great the “RESULT” will be when I “ACCOMPLISH” this task that is before.
Simply focus and take action! My thoughts are for bigger , better things; this simply requires action!
Thanks for this article.
Procrastination becomes a problem when you are procrastinating on projects that are important. Projects that are not important should be delayed or outsourced. The key is using the motivation tips you offer to get away from procrastinating on these important tasks.
If tasks are both important and unpleasant then moving through them quickly is key.
Other ideas to beat this kind of procrastination:
1. Provide a small reward for yourself when you finish.
2. Do it first off in the morning before you move on to more pleasant tasks.
Definitely Professor,
Getting big, disliked tasks out of the way, early in the day frees you up mentally. I feel great once I get the weak, unattractive things handled - it’s like a load off my back, really.
Have you guys ever heard of www.ThinkRightNow.com? They have a time-management program that talks about that.
Cool name though - my friends at school used to call me the professor too!
Peace,
+Bryan Ogilvie
I’d do the best while having fun along the way. No point harming morale with nasty words or tones, especially to teammates or colleagues.
This is a very interesting subject cos it really is a major challenge in everyones life at some point ore another.
If you don’t find a way to deal and go about these things either consciously or subconsciously (I know plenty of people who made their way through these problems/challenges as if nothing and totally without considering it for a moment even…natural born :-), you are more or less heading for failure and disaster.
So it is something that should be thought in school (maybe in stead of all the stupid religious garbage they feed our kids).
Personally I use the two last advices the most. I delegate or sometimes( lately) I have had great success with swapping jobs with people.
For instance I have swapped a lot of jobs with a woman who lives right down the road (lonely mother with two boys 8 and 5 years old).
I love hanging with her kids, and I also keep her heap running.
She loves cleaning house (no kidding, she say it’s great for meditating).
I hate dishes but laundry is fun, she’s vice versa.
Another old guy I know made me a great drawing desk for my art studio ( I only paid the material), so I drew portraits of all his grand children for him.
This is a method I contemplate looking deeper in to, and I highly recommend it, cos you get to know people you otherwise would never spend time with, and that in turn usually leads to more fun stuff.
POS
Smoke some pot, and doing the dishes or laundry becomes fun.
That’s another great method I use very frequently, and recommend warmly..
POS
Yeah, but looking at your things the next day and seeing how much you really ‘cleaned’ them, you’ll want to procrastinate even more…
I reward myself. If I know I have a job to do that I dislike (which I usually dislike because I’ve worked it up into a holy cow of disliking), I’ll put off having a coffee or whatever, and have it after I’ve completed the task as a reward.
You tell us you “added depth” but never explained how. After realizing you’re basically an idiot, I wasted no more time reading, but still felt compelled to let you know that this was a terribly written article. A retarded monkey at a keyboard may in fact have been more enlightening.
Good day.
Oao! this one must have a few issues and a chip on both shoulders (at least makes for well balanced bullshit).
Just because you don’t agree with the article or in some way find it offending, it doesn’t give you the right to call people you most likely don’t know or ever saw for “monkeys” and other offending things.
Cos that only shows us that you most likely don’t have any skills what so ever when it comes to argumentation, or you you have no control over yourself and what you say/write when you get upset.
All this says a lot more about you than the writer of the article (Witch I and many more find interesting).
If you disagree, you should tell us why and point out to us where the writer is wrong. In stead of attacking the writer and his skills….that only show you have gotten a bad upbringing obviously since no one have bothered to teach you that.
POS
Annon,
It is easy to write of what we don’t understand as rubbish. I was reading the “added depth” as rather than automatically doing a routine task, do it to the best of your ability and focus on what this means to you. I can swear and grumble as I do the dishes or I can totally focus on why I am doing them - hygene issues, service to my family etc and how I am doing them - can I improve speed and eficiency etc?
[…] they hate to do, but need to do anyway. Sometimes it is doing basic chores that need to be done.read more | digg […]
“Consistently and constantly force yourself to focus on the ‘critically few’ proactive activities that produce exponential results.” Yanik Silver
Identify the things that are worth doing!
Eliminate the 80% of all things that you are doing, the things yielding nothing in return!
JD
“How do you motivate yourself to complete tasks you hate?” Well… I find that taking the time to smoke a bowl before tackling something I hate to do generally makes me not care about doing it at all. Sure it doesn’t get done but… I’m stoned… what do I care?
I have found often getting a bit of a buzz on before I start a normally boring project makes it much more interesting.
Mopping the floor boring? but look at the pretty swirls I’m making- I’m an artiste!
I don’t want to make dinner? puff..puff..poof! I’m a famous chef making a special dish.
The dog pooped on the rug again? It’s a bomb! And I have to carefully transport it to the bomb disposal unit (toliet) Everybody stand back!
Whereas performing a regular boring task can be boring, focusing on details and imagining or pretending different scenarios can really liven things up…
This is one of many “self-improvement” websites offering nothing more than rhetorical advice. The complexities of human behavior are caused by a myriad of cognitive principles and common distortions beyond our current understanding. If you had any appreciation for science, you would realize how ineffective it is to be positively encouraging.
The road to hell is paved with benevolence
It is perfect and useful.
Here’s the scoop, folks: this article was generated by an article-writing computer program. What do you think?
I’m in the middle of changing a bedroom into an office. The work is overwhelming as the room is in pretty bad shape and there is a lot of stuff that needs to be cleaned out including the carpet. I am pushing through by imagining it when I am done. That is motivating me. I am also engaging my mind by listening to a book on CD while I’m working. That kind of takes me away. I invited an out of town friend to visit later in July so in my mind, I have a deadline. That will keep me going. I can’t wait to be finished so I can enjoy the room! :O)
Someone once gave me a book by a Vietnamese Buddhist monk called “The Miracle of Mindfulness” to combat my intense problem with menial chores. It helped a little, but it was so wishy-washy and vague about how “mindfulness” was attained, it didn’t sit very well with me. This post seems like a more direct, plain-English version of what that monk was trying to say in a hundred pages. Thanks!
Thich Nhat Hanh I presume?
Mindfulness is usually attained through meditation, but that can take a while to master.
I’ve practiced meditation for a few years and I can tell you that I’m _very_ mindful about my dishes. Trouble is, that doesn’t seem to clean them.
Help!?
got up early today to start work early . . . . just reading this article first . . then I may just have a coffee . . . and then . . .. aaaaargh
Being stoned makes the most menial chore enjoyable!
Agree!!
I did’nt like the article anyway.
I make a list of all the things that I need to do. When I’m feeling energetic, I go on productivity binges where I just blast through as much as I can before I get bored.
Some really useful tips here! First off the article was great.
@Shanel Yang, I was in the same boat for 5 years, this article also hit home for me too.
@The Success Professor, you drove the nail in a little further, the perfect explanation.
I like all the tips. Thank you.
I think the basic idea is just tricking yourself into doing whatever unpleasant task it is. So, lookign at it a different way and setting yourslef tasks is probably a useful way of doing this. But now I’m procrastinating over deciding to impliment this approach…
One thing I do that seems to help is to put the task in my Blackberry and set an alarm, reminding me that I need to get something done.
I don’t know why but it seems to motivate me to finish it up. I think it’s probably because I like the act of deleting tasks as I finish them. A sense of accomplishment I guess.
This seams to be something a lot of people struggle with, and I also get the impression that some have a positive effect from reading about it, and to discuss it with others.
I know I do (despite and contrary to what some people seam to mean).
POS
[…] How to Find Motivation in Things You Hate Doing (Pick the Brain) Everyone has things they hate to do, but need to do anyway. Sometimes it is doing basic chores that need to be done. In other cases, it’s the boring part of an otherwise interesting project. People who get things finished (as opposed to people who just get things started) have mastered the ability to push through the things they hate doing, to work on the things they love. […]
Wow, I dont get it. Just get up and do it. Its not that bad.
JT
http://www.FireMe.To/udi
Well reading through the first Tips got me really mentally motivated to get started right now. then i read the last one and that totally killed all my motivation, eventhough outsourcing or removing it is in my case simple not an option…
– should have left the last one out. maybe i can forget it again…
The way I achieve depth and meaning in whatever task I may do is altering my consciousness with the aid of cannabis. Thus, I perceive the rich details of reality
eat that frog
The motivation to do exercise is also one of the most procrastinated. The benefits far outweigh not doing it, but most people can find the easiest excuse for not doing a simple walk for 20 minutes.
[…] tend to procrastinate in getting those things done that you just hate to do, then you might find this article’s advice on how to get stuff done very useful (unless you hate reading articles about how to […]
But how do I get motivated to read this long a$$ article?
LOL @ Number 30
Perfect it and make money out of it!
Sounds weird at first, but chances are many other people hate the same things and would like an easier way to do it or someone else to do it for them.
So get really good at it, find a system that helps you doing what you hate and turn it into a business.
DELEGATE….DELEGATE….DELEGATE!!
that’s what kids are for.
[…] 3 Ways to Motivate Yourself to do the Hated Things (Pick the Brain) […]
Thanks for a great article, Scott =)
I’d like to add one more point: Just get started.
I’ve often noticed that once I get started, I realize that the chore wasn’t as bad as I imagined it to be.
[…] How to Find Motivation for the Things You Hate Doing - […]
Excellent tips. I have been avoiding cleaning the playroom for months! LOL Hubby is getting quite frustrated needless to say.
I do believe you are correct on totally focusing on the one horrible project. I always find something ELSE to do besides that! Thank you!
[…] How to Find Motivation for the Things You Hate Doing […]
don’t forget inspiration things
like a model photo when you are tired to go gym or things like that
music helps in most of cases too, kudos if the letter is good
[…] How to Find Motivation for Things You Hate Doing - “Everyone has things they hate to do, but need to do anyway. Sometimes it is doing basic chores that need to be done. In other cases, it’s the boring part of an otherwise interesting project. People who get things finished (as opposed to people who just get things started) have mastered the ability to push through the things they hate doing, to work on the things they love.” […]
Cool post!
The “Mary Poppins” movie had a song called “A Spoonful of Sugar” which said
In ev’ry job that must be done
There is an element of fun
You find the fun and snap!
The job’s a game
I love working out ways to keep things simple so I make tasks more of a game by simplifying them as much as I can. I also distract myself from the tedium of doing them, e.g. by listening to podcasts while I wash the dishes or watching TV while I do the ironing.
I also multitask to give myself more of a sense of achievement for the same amount of time. For example, every weekend I start running virus, spyware and rootkit detectors on my computer before I do my weekly backups. While they’re running, I put a load of clothes in the washing machine and, while that’s running, I wash the dishes.
For me, getting started is half the battle. I figure I can do just about anything for ten minutes, after which I’ll give myself a break. The ten minutes become twenty then forty then anything up to an hour and a half before I stop. It can also help to visualise an on/off switch for myself and imagine switching it to “on” to get going. Lowering my expectations by aiming for good enough instead of perfect helps too.
For the difficult I-really-don’t-want-to-do-this task, I do it today as a present for myself tomorrow.
[…] encontrar la motivacin en las cosas que odias hacer (ingls) […]