How to Trick Your Brain into Doing Hard Things
Summary
TLDRThe video script discusses overcoming procrastination by understanding the brain's resistance to hard tasks. It suggests that willpower isn't the key; instead, we can trick our brain into action. The speaker explains that our negative emotions and ego often prevent us from doing difficult things. To counter this, they offer strategies like breaking tasks into small steps, getting ready without committing to start, batching hard work with enjoyable activities, and changing our self-narrative to align with desired actions. These methods help reduce resistance and build consistency, eventually leading to a habit of tackling hard tasks.
Takeaways
- 💡 Procrastination is not about lack of willpower but understanding how our brain works.
- 😠 Our brain resists hard tasks by generating negative emotions, similar to a spoiled child.
- 🪖 Ego plays a role in resistance as it tries to protect our self-image and self-worth.
- 🏋️♂️ Breaking tasks into smaller steps can reduce the feeling of overwhelm and resistance.
- ⏱️ The two-minute rule is a technique to start a task for just a short time to overcome initial resistance.
- 👟 Getting ready for a task can trick the brain into actually doing it, like putting on workout clothes.
- 🍬 Batching difficult work with enjoyable activities or rewards can make hard tasks more palatable.
- 🧠 Taking the pressure off ego by focusing on the process and learning can reduce resistance to new challenges.
- 🗣️ Changing the narrative about ourselves can align our identity with the actions we want to take.
- 🏆 Consistency in action leads to progress, which in turn builds motivation and enjoyment of hard tasks.
Q & A
What is the main issue the speaker discusses in the script?
-The speaker discusses the struggle with procrastination and the realization that consistent action is not solely about willpower but can be achieved by tricking the brain into doing difficult things.
How does the speaker describe the brain's reaction to stress or boredom?
-The speaker describes the brain's reaction to stress or boredom as similar to a spoiled child throwing a tantrum, using negative emotions to resist doing hard tasks.
What is the role of ego in resisting difficult tasks according to the script?
-Ego plays a role in resisting difficult tasks by protecting our self-image and self-worth, making us avoid actions that could potentially harm our ego if we fail at them.
What is the 'two-minute rule' mentioned by the speaker?
-The 'two-minute rule' is a technique suggested by James Clear where one tells themselves they will only do a hard task for a short period, like two minutes, to lower the stakes and reduce negative emotions.
How does the speaker suggest overcoming the initial resistance to starting a task?
-The speaker suggests starting by getting ready for the task, like putting on workout clothes or opening a textbook, which can eventually lead to actually starting the task.
What is the concept of 'batching' as a strategy to overcome resistance?
-Batching is the concept of combining difficult work with enjoyable activities or rewards to make the hard tasks more appealing and reduce resistance.
How does the speaker relate the idea of ego to the consistency of actions and habits?
-The speaker relates ego to consistency by suggesting that taking the pressure off our ego and focusing on the process, like having fun or treating tasks as a game, can reduce resistance and improve performance.
What does the speaker mean by 'changing the narrative' about ourselves?
-Changing the narrative means aligning our self-talk and identity with the actions we want to take, rather than focusing on the end result, to reduce resistance and increase motivation.
How does the speaker suggest language can be used to trick the brain?
-The speaker suggests that the language we use with ourselves can be manipulated to align with our desired identity, making it more likely that we will take the actions associated with that identity.
What is the ultimate goal according to the strategies discussed in the script?
-The ultimate goal is to develop consistency in work and habits, which leads to a snowball effect of motivation and progress, making it easier to enjoy doing hard things.
How does the speaker encourage the audience to apply these strategies?
-The speaker encourages the audience to try these strategies for themselves and share their own strategies in the comments to foster a community of shared learning and growth.
Outlines
🧠 Outsmarting Procrastination: Why It’s Not About Willpower
The speaker reflects on past struggles with procrastination, revealing how difficult tasks like going to the gym or studying often feel overwhelming. They explain that overcoming these challenges is less about willpower and more about understanding and tricking the brain. The speaker introduces two types of resistance—negative emotions and ego—that prevent people from tackling hard tasks, likening the brain to a spoiled child that resists discomfort or stress. Understanding and addressing these forms of resistance can help people take action more effectively.
🎯 Shifting Your Focus: The Power of Small Steps
Negative emotions towards tasks are linked to the perceived size of the challenge, as larger tasks create more anxiety and procrastination. The speaker suggests using strategies like breaking down tasks into small, manageable steps (e.g., completing one practice problem instead of an entire Q-bank). This is called the 'two-minute rule' where you focus on starting small to reduce the overwhelming nature of a task. Once a small task is completed, it's easier to continue, making the overall challenge seem less daunting.
👟 Just Getting Ready: The Magic of Motion
The speaker shares a personal tip for overcoming resistance by simply starting the process of getting ready. For instance, putting on workout clothes or opening a textbook can naturally lead to taking action because it becomes easier to follow through once you are already in motion. They illustrate how this strategy works effectively by making a humorous comparison to sales pitches, where once someone has invested time or effort, they are more likely to continue the task.
🎉 Batching Work with Rewards: A Simple Motivation Hack
Pairing difficult tasks with enjoyable rewards is a practical trick to reduce negative emotions and make hard work more bearable. The speaker advises ‘batching’ work, where you allow yourself a treat (like watching a movie or hanging out with friends) only after finishing a tough task. By creating this incentive system, you're more likely to complete difficult work. The strategy is compared to motivating a child by offering a reward for doing homework.
🔑 Taking the Pressure Off the Ego to Boost Performance
Our ego is shaped by past experiences and can create resistance when facing difficult tasks. The speaker recounts moments in medical school where stepping out of their comfort zone was terrifying, especially when being judged by others. They highlight a classmate's attitude of approaching challenges with fun and curiosity, which lowered ego pressure and made learning easier. The lesson is to treat challenging tasks like a game to reduce fear and improve performance.
🧩 Change the Narrative: Aligning Tasks with Identity
The speaker explains the importance of reframing how we talk to ourselves when facing difficult tasks. Instead of telling yourself you ‘need’ to do something, align the action with your identity. For example, rather than saying ‘I need to get in shape,’ say ‘I am someone who works out,’ which tricks the brain into seeing the task as part of who you already are. This subtle shift in language reduces resistance and helps to make actions align with your self-image, creating lasting motivation.
💪 Consistency Leads to Motivation and Progress
Tricking the brain isn't a permanent solution, but it helps build consistency, which creates a cycle of progress and motivation. As consistency in performing hard tasks increases, the speaker explains that people start enjoying the process itself—whether it's the physical challenge of weightlifting or the mental effort of studying. Once this consistency is established, it leads to improved performance and a sense of fulfillment, making difficult tasks more enjoyable over time.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Procrastination
💡Willpower
💡Resistance
💡Negative Emotions
💡Ego
💡Baby Step
💡Two-Minute Rule
💡Batch
💡Self-Image
💡Narrative
💡Consistency
Highlights
Realizing that overcoming procrastination has nothing to do with willpower but involves tricking the brain into action.
Our brain acts like a spoiled child, resisting hard work by throwing a 'mental tantrum' with negative emotions and procrastination.
Two types of resistance to difficult tasks: negative emotions and protecting the ego or self-image.
Negative emotions arise because our brain exaggerates the effort required to complete large tasks, making them seem overwhelming.
The 'two-minute rule' technique: trick the brain by committing to a task for just a short period (e.g., one set of exercises or one problem), which reduces resistance.
Preparation trick: just get ready for the task (e.g., put on workout clothes or open a textbook) to reduce resistance and make it easier to follow through.
Batch difficult tasks with enjoyable activities or rewards to incentivize completion and reduce resistance.
Self-image and ego often resist challenging tasks to avoid failure, which would threaten one's self-worth or identity.
Changing the narrative: adopt the mindset of 'having fun' or 'enjoying the process' to reduce pressure on the ego and increase engagement in difficult tasks.
Using language to shift self-perception: framing yourself as 'someone who works out' aligns identity with desired actions and encourages consistent behavior.
Aligning identity with progress-based actions (e.g., 'I am someone who works out') is more effective than focusing on the end result (e.g., 'I need to get in shape').
The brain can be tricked temporarily, but consistency in habits ultimately creates motivation and reduces the need for constant mental tricks.
Consistent action leads to visible progress, which reinforces motivation and creates a self-perpetuating cycle of success.
As consistency builds, tasks that once seemed difficult become enjoyable, and success leads to further motivation.
Overcoming resistance is key to cultivating habits and motivation, ultimately making the hard work rewarding and enjoyable.
Transcripts
for the longest time I struggled with
procrastination it was tough to
regularly hit the gym study for exams or
do hard things even if I knew it was for
my own good recently though I've been
able to consistently take action and I
realized it actually has nothing to do
with willpower because there's a way to
trick our brain into doing difficult
things even when we don't feel like it
so to outsmart our brain we first have
to look at how our mind works because
our behaviors have patterns and if we
pay attention we'll discover that hard
work is always met with two types of
resistance first first negative emotions
the analogy I always use here is to
think of our brain like a spoiled child
when they don't get their way what do
they do they complain and throw a
tantrum our mind works the exact same
way when things feel stressful or boring
our inner child awakens and
procrastinate like imagining how
difficult it's going to be to get
started with a work for the day start a
side hustle or study for exam second is
our ego or the self-image we have about
ourselves our mind does its best to
protect our ego from being hurt because
the ego is what we attach our self worth
to for example if I grew up believing I
was gifted or better than most people
that makes me feel special but if
suddenly I had to do something outside
of my comfort zone like ask out a
beautiful woman I would subconsciously
avoid it because if I failed that would
prove I wasn't gifted and it would
destroy my ego so instead to preserve my
self-image I would avoid doing the hard
thing at all so in either case of
resistance trying to fight against our
brain's natural response to doing hard
things it won't work but if we identify
the source of the resistance we can
change our approach to trick our brain
into working with us so let's start with
negative emotions the amount of negative
emotion we feel towards something
directly depends on the size of it for
example the feeling of boredom would be
substantially worse if I knew I had to
spend 2 months without my phone versus
spending 1 hour without it I would feel
substantially more overwhelm if I had to
write an entire book than if I had to
write one paragraph our mind is very
visual it does a mental calculation for
the amount of effort and struggle it's
going to take to reach that end goal so
what if instead we shift the goal so
first tip is tell yourself you're only
going to do the hard thing for a little
bit right you're only going to take a
baby step finishing the entire U World Q
bank is a lot of damage but let's just
do one practice problem getting jacked
feels impossible but let's just do one
set of bench press running a 10K sounds
really really far but hey let's just run
around the block James Clear calls this
technique the two-minute rule we can
lower the stakes of the Tas ask so the
negative emotions around it don't feel
so overwhelming do the hard thing for
just a little bit and then re-evaluate
how you feel probably wasn't that bad so
what would it look like to just do it
for a little bit longer how bad would it
be to do one more practice problem or
one more bench press when we break apart
a huge daunting challenge into very
small steps it won't feel so scary and
we'll be more likely to follow through
another trick that's absolutely worked
for me is I'll just start getting ready
like if I'm supposed to go work out but
I'm feeling resistance I just change it
my my shorts I'll put on my shoes and
grab my keys if I feel frustrated that I
have to study I'll just open up my
textbook I'll pull up my study schedule
I'll get my calculator out I'm not
telling myself I'm going to do it I just
start getting ready and usually just
going through the motions of getting
ready I eventually convince myself that
you know well I might as well just do it
now since I'm already here this
literally happened to me this morning
like some guy called and tried to sell
me like landscaping services and I don't
even have a house you know he was like
well since I have you on the phone
already or like you came all this way we
might as well just buy it right
seriously this tip works just give it a
shot the next thing you can try is to
batch difficult work with enjoyable work
or with rewards remember our brain is a
spoiled child so we need to speak to it
that way or else we'll encounter even
more resistance like say you're
babysitting a kid and they start
throwing a tantrum about doing their
homework I would say well if you finish
your homework watch a movie and you get
to choose the movie batching is
incredibly underrated and effective I
used this all the time when I was in
school I'd make plans to go out with
friends but only if if I finished my
work before then or I'd only watch anime
if I was on the StairMaster try to find
ways to incentivize hard work with
enjoyable things and the negative
emotions around it won't be so high and
be more likely to do it let's move on to
Ego now so our ego is formed based on
all our past experiences and it defines
who we are and shapes our reality in
Maxwell maltz's book psycho cybernetics
he explains that all of our actions
feelings behaviors even our abilities
are always consistent with our
self-image we can only act based on the
beliefs we have about ourselves but our
beliefs have nothing to do with the
action itself for example regardless of
whether or not I believe I can run a
5minute mile the act of running and
trying is exactly the same the only
difference is that my ego puts up
resistance because it's afraid of
failing so something we can do is what I
call taking the pressure off our ego
during clinical rotations in medical
school I frequently had to step out of
my comfort zone and do difficult things
I had to give lectures I had to do
procedures I had to break tough news to
families I even had to tell a
16-year-old she was pregnant and if
you've never done it before and you know
you're going to suck at it and multiple
high-profile doctors are watching and
Grading your performance let me tell you
it is terrifying but I did work with
other students who didn't really seem
bothered like even when they made
mistakes or they messed up and stuff
they were eager to get back at it I
remember asking one of my friends how
she was always so positive and willing
to step out of her comfort zone and she
told me she wasn't even thinking about
that all she was doing was having fun
she was immersed in the process learning
and treating it like a game and that
idea really stuck with me if we take the
pressure offo and just focus on having
fun the resistance drops and we can just
start to enjoy the task and actually
perform better Alex low he was this
inspirational Mountaineer who was
Notorious for his infectious enthusiasm
he once said the best climber is the one
having the most fun and I think that
idea truly applies to so many things in
life especially when doing difficult
things now of course you're probably
thinking what if there's absolutely no
way I can imagine this hard thing being
fun what if waking up at 5:00 a.m.
running in the freezing cold to the gym
to lift heavy things just can't be fun
fair enough there is another trick we
can use on our brain change the
narrative we have about oursel we all
talk to ourselves but what most people
don't realize is that the words we use
are very important there are nuances in
language we can use to trick our brain
for example change the narrative so that
doing the actions of that hard thing
aligns with your identity take this
statement for example if I tell myself I
need to work out and get in shape my
brain receives this message processes it
and decides you know what we're not
going to work out today because by
definition if I need to get in shape
that means I in fact am not in shape and
someone who's not in shape is not
someone who works out and so I'm not
going to work out my brain's going to
resist working out and come to this
crazy conclusion because it doesn't
align with my identity but if I
rearrange the words a bit and I tell
myself I am a person who works out well
what do people who work out do they go
to the gym they're probably in shape
great that means I go to the gym doing
that hard thing will align with my
self-image because remember we can only
act according to how we view oursel I
know this might sound crazy but I'm not
saying a flat out lie to yourself
obviously I can't say I'm a person who
will launch a billion dollar company
tomorrow that's just outright foolish
but this is why language is so important
the key to tricking our brain is to
align our identity with the actions of
the person we want to become not the end
result I'm not saying I am project I'm
saying I am someone who works out you
see the difference one of those is based
on progress based on actions and the
other one is based on fantasy now of
course we don't want our brain to be in
a constant state of deception tricking
our brain is not a permanent solution to
getting us off our asses and actually
doing difficult work but it actually
doesn't need to be once we're able to
cultivate consistency in our work and in
our habits that itself becomes a
snowball effect that perpetuates
motivation consistent action leads to
progress which leads to motivation see
gains in muscle growth gave me
motivation to go to the gym and the more
I went to the gym the better I got at
exercising because no one likes to be
bad at what they do that's a breeding
ground for negative emotions and ego
buffering once we develop consistency
we'll start to enjoy doing the hard
things we'll start to enjoy the
stressful feeling of pushing heavy
weights we'll start to enjoy the
cognitive effort of studying and
learning and that is the ultimate goal
definitely try these out for yourself
those are some of the strategies that I
use to get myself to do hard things by
tricking my brain if you got other
strategies you use drop them in the
comments below let me check them out and
I will see you in the next video
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