Not every task is enjoyable or comfortable to execute. This articles discusses how to train brain to be able to find motivation and energy to execute difficult tasks and see them to the end.
For this we bring a concept of “Will power”. Will power is the energy that enables us to prioritise high effort/high reward tasks over low effort/low reward tasks. It takes willpower to endure the uncomfortable experience of a hard task so that we can ultimately reap the rewards.
What is high/low effort tasks?
Examples of high effort tasks can be
Studying for an exam.
Reading a boring but useful book or article.
Solving difficult LeetCode problems.
Focusing on work for hours, undistracted.
Now, examples of low effort tasks
Watching funny videos on phone.
Watching movies and series.
Playing games.
Lying on the sofa.
One off topic thing to note here is. All the high effort tasks are also tied to happiness just like the low effort tasks. For example, studying well for exam will end up with good grades which is tied to happiness. Focusing on work will produce good quality output which will get translated into praise and promotion and everyone gets happy when they are praised or promoted.
The happiness attached to high effort tasks is not always as simple for the brain to comprehend.
Wait! Hold up!
Before this gets mistranslated. This article is not about leaving all the fun things in life that brings happiness. It is NOT about sacrificing today’s fun so that we can be happy later. Neither it is about giving up on being happy and become a serious/boring person.
Instead it is the exact opposite of all this. The motivation behind increasing will power is to increase our happiness. To become the person whose life is perfectly balanced between entertainment and hard tasks that bring more joy.
The perfect balance
The argument here is that the low effort relaxing tasks needs to be mixed with high effort stressful tasks. While the high effort task yield greater rewards they also cause stress and exhaustion and cannot be executed in consecution. A relaxing event is needed to provide comfort and replenish the will power.
What can happen if someone tilt towards comfortable tasks only.
Movies no longer bring the same amount of joy. So they end up exhausting all the offerings of Netflix (or your favourite provider).
Games did not bring same amount of joy as they used to.
Realised they had been scrolling for miles (or hours) on the scrolling apps to find something entertaining.
It was impossible to get off the sofa and execute the rather important task.
Subconsciously the mind is mad itself for not doing productive things.
It is therefore possible to establish that seeking happiness only in comfort is futile. However when packaged together, the happiness multiplies as the brains notices it is getting entertainment and reaping rewards from the hard tasks.
How to increase will power?
Step-1 Accepting it is beneficial
The first step is to convince the mind that hard tasks and their struggle reaps rewards. When the mind is convinced that a certain task is tied to happiness only then we are able to convince our body to take action.
A trivial practice is to write down all the benefits of performing a particular hard task. If its a routine task that needs to be executed frequently then it also helps to stick this list somewhere visible. This list of benefits also comes in handy in prioritising between the tasks.
Step-2 Baby steps
Identify smaller hard tasks and start with those. To give example of my own I started with waking up at 6:30am. Even when it is freezing cold outside like -9C. Although for some people that might not be impressive but as a person who used to wake up right before standup at 9:00am or 10:00am. This was a big win and a big step.
By starting the day with a uncomfortable task, I had already communicated to myself that I am ready for further tasks during the day. Plus the reward I get in return is undistracted personal me time. I can read a book or solve a LeetCode problem.
Another example could be scheduling phone usage. So no scrolling during work hours. This is hard to follow for people who are addicted to phone. But the reward here is the ability to produce good quality work and have better attention span.
This exercise is more of a self discovery where one must find a good habit that they can force themselves upon.
Step-3 Building up
Building up will power is very similar to building up muscles at gym. At first we only lift light weights but as the muscle grows those weights feel nothing. And we move on to more challenging weight and exercises.
As the small hard tasks become easier to execute, we are able to pick up more challenging hard tasks that require extended efforts but reap more rewards.
End Goal
By constantly practicing will power we unlock the ability execute more intense hard tasks.