If you are a video gamer, you know you would have no difficulty waking up, going straight to your console, and staying on it for hours. The same goes for social media. Those who love social media would scroll through their feed for hours. When you love your favourite series on an OTT platform such as Netflix for example, you would have no difficulty watching it until the early hours of the morning.
But think of studying. The tune changes. You would procrastinate for days on end. The Same goes for exercising, reading; or any other activity that may not be as appealing as those mentioned in the above paragraph.
However, some people would study for hours, some would go to the gym every day with no fail, and pretty much do all the 'difficult' things you despise and would procrastinate on doing them at any chance you get.
At times, these people are often looked at as if they have some kind of superpowers or they are crazy. Statements such as 'How can you study for so long, it's abnormal' or 'Where do you get all the time to read all these books' start being said.
So, what is the difference between those who enjoy doing all these so-called hard things and those who don't?
Well, the answer lies in our brains.
We have a hormone called dopamine. Dopamine is the hormone that gives us feelings of pleasure, satisfaction, and motivation. When we do something we enjoy, this hormone gets secreted in our brains and thus we get the feelings of pleasure and satisfaction.
Video game programmers know this, they play on the secretion of this hormone in the development of the game. The same applies to social media and television programmers. This is why people spend hours on these activities.
So to be like the ones who find pleasure in doing the difficult tasks, which have way more positive results for an individual than the easy activities. You have to actively control your brain's dopamine secretion.
Generally, pleasure and satisfaction are found in some form of reward. Therefore, you have to create a system where you get a reward for exerting yourself in doing the hard things. That reward will also serve as motivation to get up that chair and do what you ought to do rather than having your hand and eyes on your smartphone the whole day.
To be honest. Many people are not failures, they are just too lazy to do the hard things. Those who do the hard things seem to be extraordinary when viewed from the outside but in fact both these people are the same. It all boils down to what one chooses to spend most time on.
For example, if you have to work on your business for 2 hours a day. You can create a reward that once you do, you get to watch the next episode of your favourite show. Failure to put in those two hours means no next episode.
This forms a motivation, and therefore the reward for doing what is 'hard'.
You can apply this system to every task you have to do but always find yourself procrastinating.
If I have to read 10 pages of a book before going on TikTok. TikTok becomes the reward for reading. In so doing, I am doing all the hard things while getting rewarded with the simple things.
The more you do this, you program your brain to a point where the hard tasks eventually become easy, and you may find the pleasure and satisfaction that come with the secretion of dopamine.
This of course requires discipline.
If you are intentional and have a conviction to be better and do all the so-called hard things that will have a positive outcome in your life, you have to be disciplined.
So, you ought to create a reward system for yourself to have the ability to do all the hard things even when you don't feel like it. And be the person whom others ask "How does he do it?"
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