Monday, August 31, 2015

A motivational self-help hack that actually seems to work

I have stumbled upon a motivational hack that, as it seems, actually does the trick.

I encountered it on one of those (usually dreadful, I'm sad to say) TEDx talks. I don't find it in my history, so I can't share the link, but it's not so far out there.

I've only been practicing it for a few days now, so I'm not quite so sure yet, but anyway here it is.

It's the simple sentence "I have decided to do that."

I try to tell this myself every time when I realize I'm putting off some chore, or I'm afraid of some task. I tell this myself as if it was a legitimate reason for starting the chore. And of course, ultimately, it is... one could also say it's the ONLY legitimate reason for doing anything.

The fantastic thing about it, though, is that it is, of course, utterly true.

I mean, let's face it, all that positive thinking rubbish and NLP nonsense leads nowhere. Why? I've alsways felt that it is because you're trying to manipulate yourself, and your brain will instantly look through that and reject it. "Doing the dishes smells like the color of my shoes in my favourite dream." Sure dude. "After my inbox is sorted, I will be free to do what I want, which feels like the sound of the wings of the eagle." Yeah, dream on darling, I still don't want to do the dishes.

"I. Have. Decided. To. Sort. That. Frakkin. Inbox. Now." Yep. Totally logical!

It actually gets me off the couch and makes it easier to just start doing things. Funny how those things seem to work.

Again, it's only been a few days so far, so I might still be in for a surprise.

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