What have you been avoiding because it is hard?
What have you been avoiding because it is hard? What have you been procrastinating on because you just don’t want to face it? What have you been postponing on the to do list? Is it video? Is it product creation? Is it all this online marketing stuff? Is it writing and blogging? What’s difficult to you? What do you keep pushing back because you just won’t face it?
It is always best to start our day with the most difficult tasks. This way, we face what we need to face head on when we’re at our most energetic and creative. Sure, we may not want to face it, but this starts the day off on the right foot: you’re on the attack for things you don’t want to do. You beat procrastination out of the gate. You didn’t wait. You were aggressive and got after it.
Two activities that successful people attack first thing in the morning are working out and writing. They wake up early and work out. They wake up early and write. Every day. Without fail. They do not compromise on these things. These are their early daily victories against the enemy of sloth and putting off and postponing. These allow them to be on the attack! These people are knocking out the two most difficult things of their day first thing. And they hit them every day, including weekends. It is similar to facing the cold shower: if you can face this, what else can you face? If you can take this on, what else can you take on? If you can get to the point where nothing can intimidate you, you’ve made it. For if nothing can intimidate you, there’s no reason to be scared. You can take on anything aggressively. What two activities do you take on each morning that set the tone for the day? Do they set the tone of positive aggression? Or, are they more laid back and see what happens, causing you to postpone otherwise important things because you just don’t want to face them? Facing the hard things gets us farther. It also morphs us into a creative problem solver. It is a skill builder. You’re building the habit of doing hard things, which takes some time. Further, it builds resilience. There’s just something to be said for not backing down in the face of hard things. You have chosen to stay and fight despite the discomfort.
Don’t back down. Keep at it. The easiest thing in the world is to back down and take time off. Don’t. The easiest thing is to push off, take it easy, and break your positive habits that are pushing you in the direction of your goals. Don’t. Just keep doing it despite not feeling it. The very essence of discipline is doing despite not feeling it. All you have to do is not stop. Do not stop. Keep up your discipline where it matters the most. When we stop, we break the cycle. When we stop going to the gym, one day turns into a week, which can turn into a month. And then you’re out. The gym discipline is broken. We don’t want that. Go even if the gym sucks. Go even if you’re only going for 15 minutes. Go even if all you do is stretch and some light sets. Still go. You’ll always feel better after you take action and go. You did it — that’s what matters.
