How to Make Yourself Do Something You Don’t Want to Do

Your problem isn’t that you don’t know what to do. It’s much worse. You know what you need to do, but you’re not doing it.

Successful people wake up early.

It’s a common trait all successful people have—no exceptions.

But you know what?

It doesn’t feel great.

I hate it. I know you hate it, too.

In my dream, I cruise along the California coast and swim with dolphins, and then I wake up and have to live in the real world.

Needless to say, that’s not something I feel like doing at 4 am. What I feel like doing is going back to sleep.

Here’s the thing:

I know waking up early is good for me. That’s why I set an alarm every night.

But when the alarm goes off, I don’t feel like getting out of bed. More often than not, what I feel beats what I know.

Look:

Is that how you’re living now?

I don’t think it is.

You allow yourself to slack off, to be lazy. You pretend it’s OK to push your work till the next day and then the day after. You take the easy way out every. single. time.

And then you wonder: “Why haven’t I achieved my goals yet?”

Don’t deceive yourself. You know why.

So, what can you do about it?

The problem comes from within, so that’s where you’ll have to focus to fix it.

Yeah, you don’t want to do it. I get that.

But think about it:

What is really stopping you?

It’s boring? It’s hard? You’re tired?

None of those are viable excuses. You are still completely able to get up and do what you need to do. You’re not tied to a chair, physically incapable of doing your work.

Tell yourself that.

Every time your brain comes up with a new excuse, prove yourself wrong and debunk your excuses.

For example, say you procrastinate something because the task is hard. Tell yourself that it won’t get easier by sitting around. Tell yourself it’s OK if you make a mistake as long as you get it done.

Not everything you think is true. If you think you can’t do something for a certain reason doesn’t make it true.

You don’t have to listen to your thoughts any more than you have to listen to your next-door neighbor.

Ignore them and get on with life.

(Need help defeating your excuses? Check out how to stop making excuses and do what you need to do.)

Chances are you’re reading this article, thinking about that one task that you can never bring yourself to do.

How long have you been struggling with it again?

It’s that one task you never want to do. Be it exercise, waking up early, or sitting down to write.

It’s a task you dread doing, and it’s most definitely not fun.

That one task you are never going to want to do. At least not until you make a habit of it. Before you make it a habit, you’ll have to make yourself do it repeatedly.

So, what should you do?

How can you make yourself do it?

It starts with self-talk.

The reason I named this website Shut Up & Achieve is because that’s exactly what you have to do.

You’ve got to stop making excuses, stop telling yourself all the reasons you’d rather not do the work, and start achieving.

Stop babying yourself and thinking “Well, you deserve a break” or “it’s OK you can do it later”.

You’re never going to want to do it. Accept that fact and do it anyway. Get it over with.

Once it’s done with, you will swell with pride and feel accomplished.

That’s a much better feeling than going to bed, feeling deflated and dwelling over what a failure you’ve been.

It’s your choice:

Losing $100 is not like finding $100.

Given the choice, you’d rather keep what you have than gain something new. This concept is called loss aversion in psychology.

Since your brain loves to play tricks on you, why not use this rule to play it instead?

Here’s how it works:

Say you have to go exercise, but just can’t bring yourself to get up and do it.

Don’t try to convince yourself to put on your running shoes by thinking of how nice it’d be to have a supermodel’s body or how much healthier you’d be. Instead, persuade yourself with all the things you’d be losing by not exercising.

“Your body shape will get even worse if you don’t get up right now and run five miles.”

“Soon enough, you won’t be able to climb the stairs.”

“In 2 years, you’ll be sitting in a doctor’s office, waiting to hear how much longer until your heart disease gets the best of you.”

You get the point.

When you’re a kid, your parents tell you to do something and you do it. No questions asked.

In adulthood, no one can force you to do anything.

Now, you’re the only person who can make yourself do anything. But you’re not very good at it are you, are you?

Just like parents discipline their kids, you can discipline yourself.

In my post on Boosting Your Self-Control, I give 5 techniques on how you can do this.

Just like any skill, the more you practice your self-control, the better you’ll get.

Here’s the fact:

You are never going to feel like doing the work that will take you to where you want to be. You cannot let that stop you.

You can be so much more than you currently are if only you stopped accepting your own lame excuses. So, stop listening to you how you feel, and unleash your potential.

Do what you need to do to become the person you want to be.