Paralyzed by an Overwhelming Task? Count to 5.
Hand Waving by Till Teenck from The Noun Project
It’s natural to avoid doing things that are hard or otherwise unpleasant. To make matters worse, we sometimes paralyze ourselves with the belief believe that we have to be in an optimal mental and emotional state to get these things done. But when confronted by challenging things that simply need to get done (ie. creative pitches, job interviews, working out, etc.) regardless of how we feel, sometimes a more “do-or-die” approach to getting unstuck is needed. A Redditor named Draconax suggests a seemingly simple solution: counting to 5.
I count to 5. This is a secret rule I have for myself. Whenever I don’t want to do something (something small like getting out of bed, to something bigger, like asking a girl out), I count to 5 in my head. Whenever I reach 5, I have to do it. I have never failed to do what I set out to do once I hit 5, so it always works for me, in a weird sort of way. I know that if I didn’t do it, the “rule of 5” would cease to exist, and since I need it to exist, I have to do what I said I would do. It’s a weird paradox, but it works.
More often than not, the hard things are also the most important things. You don’t need to feel excited or pleased about doing these things, you just need to do them.
