How to Train Yourself to Just Do It - Overcoming Fear & Resistance with Difficult or Creative Tasks

Summary

The speaker reflects on a universal struggle with procrastination in both personal and professional contexts, particularly when facing daunting tasks or difficult conversations. They discuss the challenge of initiating creative work, expressing admiration for those who can quickly dive into tasks, while also recognizing the value of letting ideas simmer to enhance creativity and insight. The speaker offers a nuanced perspective on managing procrastination and fear, suggesting a step-by-step approach that includes acknowledging fear, self-forgiveness, and taking small, actionable steps despite fear's presence. This method emphasizes the importance of celebrating these steps and allowing for rewards, underlining the idea that overcoming procrastination is a gradual process that requires practice and self-compassion.

Takeaways

• 🎶 Procrastination and avoidance of challenging tasks is a common experience in both personal and professional life.
• 📝 Tackling difficult tasks, such as writing proposals or having tough conversations, is essential but often delayed.
• 🤩 Envy towards colleagues who can quickly start and complete tasks highlights personal struggles with procrastination.
• 🔔 Allowing ideas to sit and develop over time can lead to high-quality, creative work, demonstrating the value of patience.
• 💦 Insightful ideas often emerge subconsciously during routine activities, suggesting the mind works on problems in the background.
• 🧘 Intuition is described as the universe's creative language, guiding individuals towards innovative solutions.
• 🙏 Acknowledging and forgiving oneself for procrastination due to fear is a critical step towards overcoming it.
• 👍 Emphasizing that fear is a natural part of life and not a flaw helps in managing procrastination.
• 📌 Taking the first step, despite fear, involves simple actions like creating a new document or composing an email.
• 🎉 Rewarding oneself for taking initial steps, regardless of the outcome, encourages further progress against procrastination.
• 🔥 Building momentum from small victories can lead to tackling larger tasks and gradually easing the process of overcoming creative blocks.

Q & A

What is a common challenge the speaker faces in both personal and work life?

The speaker often finds themselves avoiding important tasks and taking the easier path instead of addressing essential but difficult tasks.

How does the speaker view the relationship between creativity and overcoming procrastination?

The speaker believes that higher creativity standards and refined tastes make it more challenging to start or finish tasks, mainly due to fear of failure or underperformance.

What does the speaker envy about their colleagues?

The speaker envies colleagues who can quickly start and complete tasks without procrastination, especially tasks that require significant strategic thinking.

Why does the speaker ultimately not want to swap places with their more decisive colleagues?

The speaker recognizes the value in letting ideas and problems marinate, as time and reflection often lead to more insightful and creative solutions.

How does the speaker suggest our minds work on problems subconsciously?

The speaker suggests that our minds process and solve problems subconsciously, often leading to breakthroughs during moments of relaxation or unrelated activities.

What is intuition described as in the script?

Intuition is described as the creative language of the universe, implying it's a powerful tool for finding creative solutions.

What steps does the speaker recommend for overcoming procrastination due to fear?

Recognize the fear, forgive yourself, understand fear is normal, get to the root of the fear without judgment, and take the first step despite the fear.

What is the significance of taking the first step in overcoming procrastination, according to the speaker?

Taking the first step is crucial because it represents overcoming fear and inertia, even if the step is small, like creating a new document or drafting an email.

How does the speaker suggest rewarding oneself after taking the first step?

The speaker suggests rewarding oneself with something they love, even if the reward seems disproportionately large compared to the effort.

Does the speaker believe that the challenge of procrastination ever completely goes away?

No, the speaker believes that while it never completely goes away, it's possible to make progress and it gets slightly easier with practice.

Outlines

00:00

🔒 Overcoming Creative Resistance and Procrastination

The first paragraph discusses the speaker's personal and professional experiences with procrastination, particularly when faced with challenging tasks. It highlights the difficulty in initiating and completing tasks that require a high level of creativity or are emotionally taxing, such as delivering bad news or starting a complex project. The speaker admires colleagues who can quickly tackle tasks but recognizes the value in taking time to process and think through problems. This deeper contemplation allows for more creative and insightful solutions, often emerging subconsciously during mundane activities. The speaker suggests that intuition plays a crucial role in creative processes, acting as a bridge to innovative solutions. The paragraph concludes with advice on addressing procrastination: acknowledging fear, practicing self-forgiveness, understanding fear as a natural aspect of life, and taking small, non-intimidating steps towards task initiation.

05:00

🚀 The First Step: Building Momentum Against Fear

In the second paragraph, the focus shifts to the practical steps for overcoming the initial resistance and fear associated with starting a difficult task. The speaker outlines a process that begins with acknowledging and accepting fear, followed by self-forgiveness and understanding fear as a common human experience. They emphasize the importance of taking the first step despite fear, suggesting simple actions like creating a new document or composing an email. Celebrating this initial effort, regardless of its scale, is encouraged to reinforce positive behavior. The speaker notes that while this practice doesn't eliminate fear or resistance, it builds momentum and strength, making subsequent efforts slightly easier. They acknowledge that while fear may never fully disappear, consistent practice and self-reward can lead to progress in managing procrastination and enhancing productivity.

Keywords

💡Procrastination

Procrastination refers to the act of delaying or postponing tasks. In the context of the video, the speaker discusses personal and work-related instances of avoiding important responsibilities. Examples include delaying writing a new proposal or having a difficult conversation. The speaker identifies procrastination as a barrier to productivity and progress, often rooted in fear or avoidance of discomfort. The narrative illustrates how procrastination can hinder both personal and professional development.

💡Creative block

Creative block is a period where an individual finds it difficult to access their creativity or generate new ideas. The video speaker touches upon this when discussing challenges in starting or finishing tasks that require a high degree of creativity. They mention how higher creative standards and finer tastes make overcoming this block more difficult, highlighting the struggle with initiating tasks that demand innovative thinking.

💡Fear

Fear in the video is discussed as a fundamental emotion that contributes to procrastination and creative block. It's described as a 'feature, not a bug' of life, implying its inevitability and universality. The speaker encourages acknowledging fear without judgment, understanding its roots, and proceeding with tasks despite its presence, suggesting that fear can be a driving force rather than a hindrance when approached constructively.

💡Intuition

Intuition is referred to as the 'creative language of the universe,' a concept that the speaker discusses in the context of gaining insights and solutions. They suggest that intuition plays a crucial role in creative processes, often leading to breakthroughs after a period of subconscious rumination. This highlights the importance of giving ideas time to develop, allowing the subconscious mind to work through problems and arrive at intuitive solutions.

💡Resistance

Resistance, in the context of the video, is the internal opposition or reluctance to engage in certain tasks, especially those that are important or challenging. The speaker discusses strategies to combat resistance, such as recognizing its presence, practicing self-forgiveness, and taking small steps to move forward. This concept is crucial for understanding how individuals can overcome procrastination and fear to make progress in their tasks.

💡Self-forgiveness

Self-forgiveness is discussed as a strategy to deal with procrastination and resistance. It involves forgiving oneself for past avoidance or delay, which the speaker suggests can alleviate the guilt or shame that often accompanies procrastination. This concept is important for creating a positive mindset that enables individuals to move past their fears and start working on their tasks.

💡Momentum

Momentum, in the video, is described as the force or speed of movement gained by a task once it has been started. The speaker emphasizes the importance of taking the first step, even if small, to overcome procrastination and fear. This initial action can create momentum, making it easier to continue with the task and potentially leading to a state of flow where work becomes more effortless.

💡Reward

Reward is mentioned as a technique to motivate oneself after taking the first step toward a challenging task. The speaker suggests rewarding oneself, even disproportionately to the effort, as a way to recognize the courage it took to overcome fear and resistance. This concept underscores the psychological aspect of productivity, where positive reinforcement can encourage continued effort and progress.

💡Willpower

Willpower is referenced in the context of overcoming procrastination and taking the first step despite fear. It's described as the internal strength or discipline required to initiate a task. The speaker notes the significant role of willpower in combating creative block and resistance, emphasizing its importance in personal and professional growth.

💡Creative process

The creative process is a central theme of the video, discussed in terms of how ideas and solutions develop over time. The speaker highlights the non-linear nature of creativity, where insights can emerge unexpectedly after a period of subconscious thought. This concept illustrates the importance of allowing time for reflection and intuition to play a role in generating innovative solutions and overcoming creative blocks.

Highlights

I find myself avoiding important things that I know I should do

Avoiding the harder things at work like writing a new proposal or having a tough conversation

Letting something sit allows insights to develop, especially for creative work

Our mind processes problems subconsciously, leading to insights unexpectedly

Intuition is the creative language of the universe

Recognize when you're procrastinating due to fear

Forgive yourself and remember fear is normal

Get to the root of the fear without judging yourself

Take the first step despite the fear

Reward yourself after taking the first step

The courage it took to act despite fear is tremendous

Over time it gets slightly easier but never goes away

Momentum makes it easier to continue after the first step

Switch to an easier task after taking the first step

Taking the first step gives a feeling of strength

Transcripts

[Music]

this has been a constant feature of my

life and career where uh in my personal

life find myself avoiding important

things that I know I should do and then

similarly in work life often times

avoiding the harder thing whether it's

writing that fresh document with a new

proposal for something ambiguous or

delaying that tough conversation with a

colleague where I know it's not going to

go as well from their perspective as all

my other conversations with them and

perhaps they're going to get some bad

news perhaps there's going to be some

high degree of emotional turmoil there

just so many situations at work where

sometimes we take the easy path and we

don't work on something that we know is

essential and yet the only way out is

just work through it it is a tough

Challenge and in my observation the

higher the creative bar the finer your

take taste the tougher it is for you to

get through this to start or to finish

but mainly to combat this fear I envy

colleagues who just start a task I'm

like wait this is a very important

strategy thing yeah I just wrote it in 2

three hours for me I would have to sit

on it for two to 3 weeks not even

writing a word but just thinking about

it exploring different angles of it

maybe talking to a few people maybe be

doing some internet research or whatever

I would find all sorts of Reon to

procrastinate on writing this thing and

you just sat down one day and blocked

your calendar and wrote it in 2 3 hours

that is super commendable I want to be

you but then over time I realized I

don't want to exactly swap positions

with you because I find that there is a

lot of value in letting something sit

especially if it's something High

leverage and creative work the answer

isn't going to come to you immediately

the best answers of the best product

insights I've got them as I let the

problem and the possible solutions and

all the inputs I got from colleagues and

customers and Industry data and various

other things sit with me for a few weeks

sometimes a month plus sometimes your

mind is processing and problem solving

something very subconsciously that's why

many people get their best insights you

know like the classic ones are while

driving or in the shower or right after

waking up and whatnot that's partly

because of your mind processing what it

knows is important for you what it knows

is fun and interesting to you at some

point the mind is just a channel for the

universe to provide you a creative path

forward we can call that our intuition

in that sense intuition is the creative

language of the universe now all that

said I do want to share some very

specific thoughts on how to combat this

resistance this creative lock if you

find yourself procrastinating on

something important it sometimes helps

to a recognize that it is happening

because of some latent fear B then

forgive yourself for it C remind

yourself that fear is a normal feature

of life it's a feature not a bug fear is

a normal feature of life for

99.999% of people in the world D try to

get to the root of the fear without

judging yourself e

then instead of wishing the fear away

tell yourself that you can still take

the first step even though this fear

exists so let the fear exist don't wait

for some fantasy moment when the fear is

gone and then I will start CU that may

never arrive don't wish it away just

tell yourself that you can still take

the first step and that could be just

create the Google Doc literally go to

Google Docs and say file new or docs.

new you have a blank Google doc give it

a title add some sections to it that's

it start composing the email if it's

some email you need to send out that's

like very tough or send an invite for

the contentious meeting whatever it is

take that first step now that you've

taken the first step then congratulate

yourself for taking this first step

perhaps even rewarding yourself with

something you love so for me it's

usually like bobery or something so

reward yourself with something you love

even if that reward is

disproportionately high wors is the time

and effort you put into it the great

thing is that you let the fear be and

you took that first step so I don't want

you to measure yourself against time or

effort which is like I did something

only for 5 minutes because you need to

recognize the the amount of willpower

and the amount of Courage it took you to

still take that first step in the

presence of that fear is tremendous even

if it took you just five minutes to do

it so reward yourself disproportionately

because your brain likes those rewards

then either continue continue with the

momentum of that task if you feel like

going for many people they just feel

like going because there's momentum or

at this point switch to another more

comfortable task like answering some

slack messages getting your quick

dopamine hits whatever but now you have

a feeling of strength from having taken

that first step in the face of fear so

that's the stepbystep recipe over time

it will get slightly easier it never

goes away it definitely hasn't for me

but you do make progress with

[Music]

practice