Solve the Most Difficult Problems With a Meditative “pause”.
The discomfort of doing difficult tasks can push you to get distracted, focus on things, and procrastinate. This meditation-like exercise will help you focus on why you want to run away from tough things and will increase your overall productivity.
You’ve probably heard over and over that you tackle the hardest task of the day first , but for some reason you can’t. If that sounds like you, Zen Habits’ Leo Babauta suggests you try a “pause workout” that works in a similar way to basic meditation exercises. Start by choosing one important task that you need to accomplish today. Avoid as many distractions as possible and try your best to focus on the task. As Babauta explains, your mind will want to escape the discomfort:
We will now pause the workout where, instead of running away from the discomfort, you pause. Breathe. Pay attention to this discomfort – it can be fear, frustration, insecurity, self-doubt, fatigue. Ditch the story of this discomfort and just pay attention to how it feels physically in your body. Where is this discomfort located? What is its quality? You will notice that the discomfort isn’t really all that bad, even if you usually feel like running away from it. It’s just energy. It’s not really good or bad, it’s just energy that is in your body that you usually don’t want to have and usually rate as “bad”.
As you continue to pause and identify the feeling when it occurs, over time you will begin to realize that it doesn’t really matter and that there is nothing to worry about. It just is. Over time, you will become comfortable with this discomfort, and you may even use it as a motivator rather than a hindrance. Your challenging tasks will still be important, but you will want to take on them, not run away from them. The entire article is worth reading, so be sure to check it out at the link below.
Unconventional Performance | Zen habits