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

Solution: Failure is a fear everyone struggles with. But you can overcome this by asking yourself, “How would you act if you knew you couldn’t fail? What would you ask if you knew you couldn’t hear “no”? Who would you approach and what would you request?” Being told no is a good thing because it conditions us to continue asking when we are turned down. There is no such thing as a magic door that is opened for everyone at all times. Don’t minimize your importance or self-worth by brushing off opportunity.

Your anxiety is triggered when you think about doing a specific task. For example, when there is a form that I need to fill out and every time I look at it I feel anxious, that means I need to do this thing now.

Denial thrives in distraction, but it also stirs up anxious thoughts, pushing you to “do it now!” Pay attention to this feeling. Take five minutes to sit with your thoughts. That thing you’re avoiding, take five minutes to work on it.

Procrastination is the act or habit of putting off something to a future time. It involves delaying what needs to be done, usually because the task is unpleasant or boring—or simply because delaying is an option.

Habits are reversible, but to reverse the bad habits, we must realize them so we can stop practicing them. When it comes down to it, the habit of critical task avoidance is nothing more than a pattern of repetition—a pattern we must break.

Fear needs to be seen as a compass... because that feeling is telling us we’re onto something.

Doing the hard work is broken down into five core fears: ● Fear of Commitment ● Fear of Failure ● Fear of the Unknown ● Fear of Decision Making ● Fear of Criticism or Negative Feedback

Your goal is to break the connection to the past identity that was grounded in fear, and free up the new version of you that desperately wants to push forward beyond the comfort of your self-imposed limitations.

taking responsibility is the first step to healing procrastination and doing the hard things first.

The fear of the unknown will always be an obstacle if you try to predict the outcome of an action. It’s easy to predict the known. But the unknown is the other side of this fear.

You must visualize the life you want to lead, and not what is expected of you. You can change your life, but only if you take charge and lead the way. Nobody will step in and do what is best for you. The unknown is waiting for you to jump in and discover all you can be. But you must trust yourself and start your journey.

If you can beat this obstacle, this frame of mind, you are taking the battle with procrastination to the front-lines. To do this, you must train your mind to lean hard toward discomfort.

By leaning hard into discomfort, everything will eventually become easier. Better yet, you will change your state of mind, and when your emotional state changes, your mindset and attitude also change.

Doing the Hard Thing is Uncomfortable. Yes, it is. You have to do the work you’d rather ignore. You have to initiate the conversation with your boss about your contract. You have to call the customer who isn’t happy with your service

Do you want to grow, or stay where you are? If things are easy, you are accustomed to the habit or routine. Anything that lacks challenge also lacks growth. You may think you’re getting off easy by taking the easy way out, but this only disempowers you.

Resist the urge to break focus. When working on a task, I often have the urge to stop and go chasing rabbits down a trail. This means suddenly surfing the Net, shopping on Amazon, or looking up something that has nothing to do with the task I’m performing.

This is my way of leaning back into the comfort zone. When I feel discomfort, my urge is to escape after a short period, but these days, I resist. I’ll carry on for five minutes. Then, when my mind says, “You’ve had enough, let’s take a break” I’ll continue for another five minutes. Or I’ll do one more rep in my workout, or I’ll resist eating that scrumptious cake for another ten minutes.

What you resist always builds a deeper level of discipline for tackling hard tasks. When you resist temptation (eating that cake instead of the apple), and lean into taking definitive action towards discomfort (that task you are avoiding), a shift in mental attitude is the result. This is h...

Everyone has a way to procrastinate—an escape method to distract you from what you need to do—and when you know what that is, you can start turning away from it. As a way to procrastinate, my escape mechanism was to turn on TV by default. So, I got rid of the TV.

Start Now. Most people fail to work on goals in life because they fail to start anything. They sit and wait or get stuck in too many details leading to overwhelm. This brings on a fear of failure and stirs up memories of things you started in the past and gave up on.

You negotiate with your mind and decide now is not the time and the excuses step in.

These excuses hold you back and prevent you from ever actually start working on your goals.

If you want to start, you must begin today. If you write nothing down on the blank page, it stays blank until you put pen to paper.

Conditions are subject to change. The best time to begin your life was yesterday. The second-best time is right now. No matter what your current/present conditions are—rich or broke, sad or happy, scared or feeling courageous, ready or not—we are going to begin right now.

Make your decision to stop waiting and start doing. Turn off the TV. Move into a silent area and prepare your mind for what is coming.

Begin with the simplest task possible. Break it down into a task that takes one minute. You can go simpler and make it a thirty-second task. Ask yourself, “What’s my next immediate step?” Start as easy as possible. Make it a small habit. Make the action so easy that you can’t fail.

Fear #4: The Fear of Decision-Making Most of our procrastinating behavior is built around the excuses we tell ourselves. They are the internal lies that keep the behavior active. When you decide to delay something, the decision is based on the excuse you’re selecting at that time. Every excuse damages self-esteem, lowers self-confidence and makes it easier for more excuses to move in.

Listen to the thoughts you’re creating when you procrastinate. What false promises are you making to yourself? What reason do you create for not doing it today? Do you really believe that your situation is so different from everyone else? Do you believe it’s too late to change?

Pro tip: The future will not be better than today unless you make changes today. Your future reflects what you do right now. Your behavior at the moment is who you are becoming in the future.

The mind is protecting the ego from uncertainty. We don’t want to feel as though we don’t know what we’re doing. We don’t want to look stupid. We don’t want to feel overwhelmed. We don’t want to feel as though we’re not good enough, and we certainly don’t want to feel like a failure or a disappointment to our family, our peers or our community. So, we decide to do nothing. We sit on it.