*‘The greater the importance of a task to your soul’s development, the greater the resistance you feel towards it.’ *— **Steven Pressfield** in [The War Of Art](https://www.amazon.in/War-Art-Through-Creative-Battles/dp/1936891026/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=)
Procrastination has always been a great weakness of mine, and has caused me a lot of unnecessary stress and grief. I would sit down to finish a piece of work, and voila there’s a new mail in my inbox, or someone’s tagged me in a photo on Facebook, or there’s a new Whatsapp message. Before I know it, a couple of hours have gone by and I’m watching cat videos on Youtube.
Even though it didn’t feel like I wasting much time, over the long run it all added up. Deadlines came and went, and all my big plans remained as just that, plans. But worst of all, the lack of progress on my goals begins to take a toll on my self confidence. And ever since I became acutely aware of these effects on my life, I’ve been slowly working on improving my ability to get things done effectively. In this post I wanted to share a few tactics that I’ve personally found quite helpful in overcoming resistance and moving towards your goals.
**Focus on the discomfort**
As human beings we have a natural tendency to seek pleasure and to avoid discomfort and pain. Any cognitively demanding task, creative or otherwise, will necessarily cause you a bit of mental discomfort. This is why, as soon as we start working on it, your mind starts to look for any and all ways to avoid that discomfort. When you feel like your mind is trying to wander, instead of suppressing it, try and examine it a bit closer. Take a few deep breaths and sit with that feeling for a little while — I’ve found that this website helps. When you do this, you realise that there is no need to be afraid of the task, and that you’re more than capable of completing it.
**Break up the task**
Sometimes, the task at hand might be quite complex and time consuming. But thinking of the enormity of it is just going to paralyse your mind . Instead, break it up into smaller, more manageable pieces. You don’t need to do all of it at once — neither could you even if you tried. We often forget that we only ever have this present moment, so just focus solely on the next thing you get need to get done. As cliched as it sounds, a journey of a thousand miles does indeed start with a single step.
**Eliminate distraction**
While smart-phones have revolutionised the way we communicate with each other, and the way we work, it has also created an environment which never lets us be distraction-free. All our favourite apps are constantly competing for our attention. Although seeing amazing photos on Instagram can be a joy in itself, it destroys our ability to focus and work deep. Cal Newport in his book Deep Work, examines all the ways in which technology, and especially social media affects our cognitive abilities, and outlines ways to develop the ability to work deep. In general, if you have a task at hand which requires your full focus, eliminate all possible forms of distraction (that includes email) for the time that you’re working.
**Create a depth ritual**
A tactic which has worked well for me in order to get into the state of flow, is to start with a depth ritual. It consists of asking myself a few questions pertaining to the task at hand.
What is my task?
Why am I doing it?
What exactly am I going to do?
Is my environment conducive to deep work?
How much time am I going to spend on this task?
Are all distractions and possible interruptions removed?
Are my tools ready and am I ready to use them?
Taking five minutes to write down this checklist really helps to put me into a state of focus with regards to the task at hand. I hope this is useful for you as well.
**Reward Yourself**
Willpower is a limited resource, and getting any demanding task done will require you to exert a significant amount of willpower. Don’t make the mistake of jumping from task to task without any breathing space in between. You’ll quickly find yourself burning out. Rather give yourself a small reward at the end of each small victory. Go for a walk, catch up on your emails, or even get a milk-shake — whatever works for you. Catching up on social media works well too, but do try to go easy on it if it’s a habit you’re trying to shake off.
Most of us spend a majority of our adult lives working. How we are at work also defines how we are at play, and pretty much everything else in life. It does not need to be a source of frustration and anxiety, but rather of satisfaction and joy. Use your work as a form of meditation by being fully present and in the moment. You will find that if you can do that, you will end each day much more refreshed and relaxed than how you began it.
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