Tactics to Make Yourself Just Get Started (Battling Resistance)

Ironically, as I write this sentence, I'm facing resistance.  But for me the battle is already half won; I've sat down and committed to the work.

That's what this post is all about - what are the best ways to win each day, in the moment, when you don't want to do something that you know you need to do? 

A Treadmill Problem

Procrastination, like most complex things in life, is truly a treadmill problem.  

You won't have an epiphany one day and simply become the paragon of productivity forevermore.   It's a battle of the mind that requires constant daily attention, similar to a treadmill; no matter how much you do, you never reach a permanent state of completion.

For most of us, resistance will always be there, but it's how you handle it on a daily basis that matters.  

Recognizing this is step one.

The next step is to develop an arsenal of tools and tricks that work for you to beat those daily battles of resistance more often than not.

I've listed below some things that are worth trying and experimenting with.

 Some of these tactics might only be effective for certain things, while others are more effective in others.  That's because, beneath it all, resistance is just a blanket term for the voice of your lower emotions that are highly context dependent.  You don't want to prepare your tax return because it's boring but you don't want to do those sales calls because you're introverted and don't like talking on the phone.  They will likely require completely different interventions.  

So the key is to find what works for you for each situation.  

Here are some ideas to help you just get started...

Just Get Started..

• The 5 second rule - many variations of this exist.  I first read about The three second rule in a book called The Game over a decade ago when it was first released.  The rule was simple: if you see a woman and like her then you have to approach her within 3 seconds, otherwise you talk yourself out of it.  I've applied in a variety of instances with varying degrees of success.  I find it especially useful in stressful social situations when I need to start a conversation, for example.
• Make it a habit - set up a trigger and a reward and build momentum.  Have you noticed how hard that first session back at the gym is?  It gets easier once you get back into the swing of things, doesn't it?  Things we do habitually become easier.
• Set a specific time - at 10am on Monday, I'm going to do x.  Keep it as specific as possible and leave no room for negotiation.  
• Restrict time - struggling to be productive on a daily basis?  A somewhat paradoxical approach is to severely restrict the time allocated to the task.  Give yourself a max of 1 hour per day to get everything done, for example. These productivity resets can help focus the mind because you are so restricted on time that the pressure of getting things done can often take over.  Increase the time allocation once you're doing a full hour of productive work and build it up from there.
• Just do it - sometimes the best approach is to feel the resistance and just don't pay it much importance.  "Your work is too important to be left to how you feel today" is one of my favorite quotes from Seth Godin.  I actually used this approach for the very article that you're reading now.  An hour ago I felt a lot of resistance.  Now, half way through the article, I'm very much engaged and in flow.  Positive action leads to positive thoughts, not the other way around.  Related to this: if you ever wanted to see how transient and meaningless thoughts are I'd recommend transcendental meditation.  
• Optimize your environment - ready your gym bag the night before rather than packing at the crack of dawn half asleep. Simple life optimizations can make all the difference when facing resistance.
• Cold immersion therapy - particularly useful if your physical state is low energy and you feel lethargic.  Jump in a cold shower, or even better have an ice bath.  The shock to the system can get you in state.
• Change your environment - a hack that works for me if I'm feeling unproductive is to take my laptop to a local coffee shop that I particularly enjoy.  Just the change of scenery and ambience can get me into a productive state.  
• Jump on a call with someone - I have a few people I can call that really help me get back on track.  These people offer differing perspectives and say things that make me view a situation differently.  This can especially help when suffering from overwhelm, lack of clarity or faith in the strategy.  Just having someone else reaffirm that you're doing the right thing, for example, can be enough to dissipate resistance.
• Be a professional - read The War of Art and build an identity of being a consummate professional.   “The amateur believes he must first overcome his fear; then he can do his work. The professional knows that fear can never be overcome. He just does his work in spite of it".  These identity goals are especially powerful.  What type of person do you want to be?
• Set an accountability trap - find a partner to hold eachother accountable or publicly schedule the launch of a product.  You're less likely to skip the gym if your buddy is meeting you at the squat rack at 6pm. Even less so if the first person to not show up pays the other $500.
• Set process goals - don't worry about writing a 300 page thesis, just worry about doing your goal of one hour of writing today. Process oriented goals are super helpful when faced with overwhelmingly large pieces of work (writing a book, for example).  Can also be effective to quit bad habits like alcohol - "I will not drink with you today" rather than "I will never drink again."
• Commit to doing something badly - A mindset hack that shifts the goal from doing something well to just shipping.  This is especially useful for battling perfectionism - "I'm going to ship no matter what at 9am on the 13th Feb".   The key is to lower the bar so it feels easier to start.
• Develop a start ritual - I'm currently fortunate to be staying in a villa with a plunge pool.  My current writing ritual starts with a 4am wake up, a bottle of water and jumping into the cold plunge pool.  Your start ritual doesn't need to be anything elaborate, it could simply be making a cup of coffee and sitting down at the same time every day.  The ritual is a trigger - your mind links the trigger to the task and helps you to get in state.
• Set a minimum commitment - you will have off days.  On such days commit to doing a small amount (a minimum of 10 minutes, for example).  
• Bit by bit - use something like the Pomodoro technique to break things up into 20 minute segments.  Everyone can be productive for 20 minutes.  Your goal is to build up as many successful 20 minute segments as you can.  Track and monitor progress. Try to improve your performance over time.

The Limitation of Hacks

These tactics are short term "hacks" that you can apply in the moment when you know you need to get something done but don't feel like doing it.  They're great to have in the locker, to be pulled out when you need them at times when those negative unhelpful thoughts arise. 

To take this to the next level, though, we need to shine more of a light on why these unhelpful thoughts are arising in the first place.  

Someone with a fear of failure believes that it's pointless doing the work, nothing will come of it and it will be a colossal waste of time.  What we believe to be true feeds our thoughts which in turn feeds our actions.  Those who are cynical in nature generally have a harder time being productive than optimists.

It's clear then that we need to reframe our beliefs and the way we look at things at a foundational level to make lasting change.   

What's the best way to do that?  We need to figure out what our most unhelpful and unproductive beliefs are and surround ourselves with evidence to the contrary.

I'll be writing more on this topic over the coming weeks.