How to do things when you don't feel like it || 5 Tips to get more done even on the bad days
Hi guys and welcome back to my blog!
Today I wanted to talk about something I struggle with a lot.
How the hell do you do things when you just don't feel like it?!
It seems that most days I simply don't feel like doing anything on my to-do list.
Because I struggle with this, I found a bunch of tips and tricks online that I've been implementing for the past week. Kind of sort of like an experiment.
Here are the tips that I found most useful:
1. Five seconds rule
If you've ever been in a race, you will most likely know the feeling I'm about to tell you about.
You hear the "ready, set, go" and your heart immediately starts pumping. Your brain is focused exclusively on the run.
What I found out is that our brains love that jump start.
The 5 seconds rule thrives off of that feeling.
How it works: You know you have to get up and start studying. You're slugging around, you can't seem to start.
COUNT DOWN.
5...4...3...2...1
And when you come to one, get up.
It sounds silly or even too simple, but I swear this works.
Where I've been using this rule- mostly waking up on time, but also to get up and do some chores. 
2. Reward yourself
For this, you can use short term rewards or long term rewards.
An example of a short term reward would be like this- you finish studying one chapter from your text book, you watch one cat video.
Long term rewards function something like this- you meet your weekly goal of covering 2 chapters every day, on Sunday you go out to eat for breakfast.
This is a great way to get yourself to look forward to finishing your workload for the day or week, as there is something at the end of it which you will really enjoy!
One thing though- you need to be extra careful about this. It's super easy to reward yourself with something that is bad for you. That would look something like this- you work for one hour, you eat a chocolate bar. Or, you worked super hard the whole week and then on Saturday you get absolutely obliterated with alcohol.
When rewarding yourself, try to find something that is nourishing for your body and soul and something you will really enjoy and you will look forward to!
3. Write a SMALL list
When you don't feel like doing anything, what are the chances you will start feeling like it when you glance at your 3000 miles long to-do list?
Exactly. So, try to keep your lists short, with things that absolutely must be done.
My list usually has my top 3 priorities for the day and for the week.
You can keep a side list with things that can be done if you have spare time, for an additional productivity boost.
Keeping your lists small will make you feel like it is actually doable. Also, if you complete all 3 of your to-do things, you will feel a huge sense of accomplishment for yourself, that the next day will feel easier. You already did it yesterday, right? :)
4. Get your expectations in line
It's really easy to be an overachiever. Being an overachiever looks like this:
'' I will wake up at 4:30 AM, then I will workout for a full hour, then I will read a 300 page book, and all of that will be done by the time I go to work"
Meanwhile, you did nothing of that the day before.
Setting your expectations to just the right place will allow you space to improve yourself over time!
Let's stay with the example of waking up. Setting your expectations right would mean that you would try to wake up 15 minutes earlier tomorrow. And then 30 minutes the next day.
Please keep in mind that your expectations need to be just right and not too low.
If you set them too low, you might be setting yourself up for failure.
"I will set my alarm clock for 6AM, but I already know that I will sleep in".
Keep a positive attitude, but a reasonable positive attitude!
5. Visualize, visualize, visualize
Although I told you to keep your expectations just right, that doesn't mean you can't shoot for the stars down the road! Imagine your ideal day, or ideal work flow! Visualize yourself, your habits, how you feel and how other people see you!
Visualizing is a powerful tool that you can use to boost your productivity by a 100%!
I won't go too much into details in this post about visualizing, but keep an open eye for a post exclusively about it in the next couple of days!
My experience during the experiment:
I thought of adding this little snippet at the end of the post; how it went down for me.
So, with this experiment, I am super happy!
Granted, I was doing it for just a week, but I did notice it be a bit easier to work on my blog as well as my fitness routine with these tips. Another thing that felt much easier is waking up in the morning, which makes me really happy!
I will keep you posted on my social medias about the experiment after some more time of trying it out!
What do you think, did you like this post?
Do you struggle with doing things when you don't feel like it?
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