Do the Hard Things First: How to Win Over Procrastination and Master the Habit of Doing Difficult Work (Do the Hard Things First Series Book 1)

by Scott Allan

“Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration, the rest of us just get up and go to work. — Stephen King

The primary driving force behind procrastination is the prioritization of short-term mood repair and emotion regulation over long-term achievement and wellbeing.

this is the tendency of the brain to favor immediate rewards over future rewards.

So, while in the future you can set goals, only in the present moment can you take action.

When goals lack urgency, it opens the door for procrastinating indefinitely. When

When you insert balance into your daily life, you are able to enjoy today while assuring your long-distance plan will be fruitful.

As with anything that requires a change in behavior, the best thing you can do is show up every day with a clean slate. This means wiping away past guilt for all the days you’ve lost because of procrastination, and leaning into self-forgiveness.

Yes, right now—before we go any further—stop what you’re doing, close your eyes and say, “I forgive you (your name). Now let’s do this!” In fact, this should be the first thing you do at the start of each day.

The greatest ideal you can bring to the table is your determination. This is how you will push through anything that gets in your way. You will succeed by showing up to play, even if it means losing most days. You will show up to learn, even if it means working longer days.

"If you are not willing to risk the usual you will have to settle for the ordinary." — Jim Rohn

Procrastination (which I refer to as task avoidance addiction) reduces your energy when all the incomplete tasks pile up in your head. In a mad shuffle to finish tasks at the last minute, you end up failing to do anything worthy of quality. Remember, if a thing is worth doing, it’s worth doing to the best of your ability.

Fear lies at the center of procrastination: the fear of success, responsibility, the unknown, and decision making.

“The really happy people are those who have broken the chains of procrastination, those who find satisfaction in doing the job at hand. They’re full of eagerness, zest, productivity. You can be, too.” — Norman Vincent Peale

Motivation comes with working, and if you can inject energy and interest into the task you’re working on, it will create the inspiration you seek. The motivation you seek is hidden behind the clouds of fear, doubt, and uncertainty. Motivation is a creation, and you generate motivation by taking intentional action.

When I could identify with my fears, and recognize that the greatest enemy in my life is my own mind, I made a promise to myself: From that moment, I would no longer be scared to do hard things. I would do all the things that were hiding in my closet, under the bed, and in every dark place of my mind, where fear protected my comfort.

find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have." — Thomas Jefferson In the previous chapter, we looked at the five core fears that feed procrastination. Now, here is a breakdown of ten reasons we are lured into delaying the important works in our lives.

progress takes place outside the comfort zone." — Michael John Bobak

“The habit of always putting off an experience until you can afford it, or until the time is right, or until you know how to do it is one of the greatest burglars of joy. Be deliberate, but once you’ve made up your mind – jump in.” — Charles R. Swindoll

“We shall never have more time. We have, and have always had, all the time there is. No object is served in waiting until next week or even until tomorrow. Keep going day in and day out. Concentrate on something useful. Having decided to achieve a task, achieve it at all costs.” — Arnold Bennett

“There is nothing so fatal to character as half-finished tasks.” — David Lloyd George

“If there are nine rabbits on the ground, if you want to catch one, just focus on one.” — Jack Ma Look at the list you created in the previous step. You have a list of at least five tasks that you’ve been delaying for as long as you can remember.

“Success is not obtained overnight. It comes in installments; you get a little bit today, a little bit tomorrow until the whole package is given out. The day you procrastinate, you lose that day's success.” — Israelmore Ayivor

“Life always begins with one step outside of your comfort zone.” — Shannon L. Alder

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.” — Will Durant

“You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.” — Martin Luther King, Jr.

"When we fail to set boundaries and hold people accountable, we feel used and mistreated. So we sometimes attack who they are, which is far more hurtful than addressing a behavior or a choice."

“To the degree we’re not living our dreams; our comfort zone has more control of us than we have over ourselves.” — Peter McWilliams

“You don’t need a new plan for next year. You need a commitment.” — Seth Godin

“Often just by taking action, by doing something about the situation can relieve the stress and help correct the situation.” — Catherine Pulsifer

“Anything worth putting off is worth abandoning altogether.” – Epictetus

“When you say 'Yes' to others, make sure you are not saying 'No' to yourself." — Paulo Cohelo, bestselling author of The Alchemist

“Surviving a failure gives you more self-confidence. Failures are great learning tools. But they must be kept to a minimum.” — Jeffrey Immelt

“What matters is this: being fearless of failure arms you to break the rules. In doing so, you may change the culture and just possibly, for a moment, change life itself.” — Malcolm Mclaren

“If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“Until you value yourself, you will not value your time. Until you value your time, you will not do anything with it.” — M. Scott Peck, Author of The Road Less Traveled

“Forget about the consequences of failure. Failure is only a temporary change in direction to set you straight for your next success.” — Denis Waitley

“The best possible way to prepare for tomorrow is to concentrate with all your intelligence, all your enthusiasm, on doing today's work superbly today. That is the only possible way you can prepare for the future.” — Dale Carnegie

'Hard-working' is what gets the job done. You just see that year after year. The students who thrive are not necessarily the ones who come in with the perfect scores. It's the ones who love what they're doing and go at it vigorously. — Dr. Carol S. Dweck, author of Mindset: Changing the Way You Think to Fulfill Your Potential

“Often we are caught in a mental trap of seeing enormously successful people and thinking they are where they are because they have some special gift. Yet a closer look shows that the greatest gift that extraordinarily successful people have over the average person is their ability to get themselves to take action. — Anthony Robbins, bestselling author of Awaken the Giant Within

“It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all–in which case, you fail by default.” — JK Rowling, The Harry Potter Series

“If you believe you can accomplish everything by “cramming” at the eleventh hour, by all means, don’t lift a finger now. But you may think twice about beginning to build your ark once it has already started raining.” – Max Brooks

“When I’m completely overwhelmed with too much to do, or if I’ve been putting off an important project because of the work involved, it’s like I’m at the base of a mountain looking up at the peak. I start to climb, but for every ten feet I move forward, the peak gets further away instead of closer. I feel like I’m going nowhere, even though I’m moving. It’s very self-defeating.”

“One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all of us tend to put off living. We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon—instead of enjoying the roses blooming outside our windows today.” — Dale Carnegie, How to Win Friends and Influence People

“In a moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing to do, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing.” — Theodore Roosevelt Is there a hole in the wall of your living room that you’ve never fixed? Are there any areas of your home that are falling apart and you need to call someone to fix it? Is your

“If you don’t pay appropriate attention to what has your attention, it will take more of your attention than it deserves.” — David Allen, bestselling author of Getting Things Done

“Disconnect from everything long enough to see if it feeds your soul or if it’s a distraction. What’s deeply connected will always remain.” – Maryam Hasnaa

never attempt to make money on the stock market. I buy on the assumption that they could close the market the next day and not reopen it for ten years.” — Warren Buffett