How to Trick Yourself Into Doing Things You Hate

For many people, inertia, laziness, fear, procrastination, self-doubt, endless debating and analyzing, second-guessing, “planning,” and self-sabotage are the default. But for those with an action bias, taking a step forward is the thing that happens automatically, to the extent that it takes effort not to act.

taking action is such a good idea and so easy to do, then why don’t we do it more often?

There are many answers to this question, but most of it comes down to anxiety. We feel like we don’t yet know enough to act, we’re afraid of the outcome, or we’re worried there’s a risk we haven’t prepared for. We feel we don’t have enough authority or clarity or ability to act.

Do something small now, see where it lands you

your own life right now, think of the task you are procrastinating and try to identify the nature of the anxiety behind it. Take note of the excuses you make for why you can’t act—they’ll give you a clue about your current mindset. Once you’ve identified this underlying fear, start considering some easy ways to begin shifting toward a bias for action instead

Counter-intuitively, this is often the lowest pressure, least anxiety-provoking state to be in.

What thing can I do right now

Take a step, even a small one, in the right direction, right now. That’s all.

The theme we will keep returning to is the necessity of cultivating whatever attitude we need to in order to consistently choose action over anything else.

“Many decisions and actions are reversible and do not need extensive study. We value calculated risk-taking.”

bias for action”