How to Trick Your Brain into Doing Hard Things 

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1. Baby steps 2. Just start getting ready 3. Reward yourself 4. Focus on having fun 5. Align your identity with the actions

i like the fact that literally every video he makes is about a problem i suffer from 💀

The answer of integral given on thumbnail is 5log|x-2|+4log|x+3| + c

I have started doing the "Just start getting ready" step recently, and honestly, it has made me so much more productive than I could have ever imagined myself to be. It indeed works like a charm

Here's my understanding: 1. Baby steps: Break down your hard task into smaller and easier subtasks. This will make it more manageable and less intimidating. You can also set a timer for each subtask and challenge yourself to beat it. 2. Just start getting ready: Often the hardest part of doing something is starting it. To overcome this inertia, you can trick your brain by just preparing for the task without committing to it. For example, if you want to exercise, just put on your workout clothes and shoes. This will signal your brain that you are ready to go and reduce the mental resistance. 3. Reward yourself: After completing a subtask or the whole task, give yourself a small reward that makes you happy. It could be a snack, a break, a video game, or anything else that motivates you. This will create a positive association between the hard thing and the reward and reinforce your habit of doing it. 4. Focus on having fun: Instead of focusing on how hard or boring the task is, try to find ways to make it more enjoyable or interesting. You can listen to music, podcasts or audiobooks while doing it, or turn it into a game or a competition with yourself or others. You can also remind yourself of the benefits of doing the task and how it aligns with your goals. 5. Align your identity with the actions: One of the most powerful ways to trick your brain into liking hard things is to change how you think about yourself and your actions. Instead of seeing yourself as someone who hates doing hard things, see yourself as someone who loves challenges and growth. Instead of saying “I have to do this”, say “I choose to do this” or “I get to do this”. This will shift your mindset from being forced to being empowered.

2:08 baby steps 2:54 just start getting ready 3:34 batch difficult with enjoyable 4:48 taking pressure off the ego, gamify 6:10 change the narrative you have about yourself,

I actually did the same thing with learning Japanese, I was scared by the amount of characters I had to memorize (about 2000 to understand most of them it's called the N1 level, which is complete fluency). I started with the N5 level which only contains about 125 characters, it took me about 5/6 months to memorize them plus the grammar, vocabulary and verbs that go with it. Actually I can discuss about my interests, weather, favorite places, country...etc easily in Japanese. So now I have to reach the intermediate level, N4 & N3, wish me luck or wish me consistency should I say. ( I shared my little experience with you all so you can understand that truly, everything is possible just don't give up)頑張ってね！

I think the worst part is accepting procrastination. That stokes the ego to a level from which it's really hard to return from. I personally give myself deadlines. Imagine I have an exam a week later, I'll tell someone that it's four days later and ask them to keep reminding me. Building a pressure on procrastination can actually help if you're afraid of not getting a desired result.

my brain watching this video knowing that im trying to trick him:💀

My strategy is: Don't give yourself time to think when doing hard things, just jump into it. Because our brain have like a second to procrastinate. I'm glad I saw your channel ❤️

Fun fact : Our brain is also watching this video 💀

pov watching this instead of studying for my test

From a student who always procrastinated, to someone who studies and does assignments on time and actually loving it! Thank You Cajun Koi Academy for the impact you guys have made in my life. Truly grateful from the bottom of my heart ❤️

We appreciate your dedication and consistency in bringing well informed content on this channel. God bless you.

thank god you exist bro. you probably just fixed my highschool life by just making this video

Watching this instead of studying

One of the tricks that always work for me is asking myself 'What is the most easiest step I can take towards my goal/task and then the next easy step and then the next.' Basically, just focus on what is easy.

The 2 min trick just absolutely worked for me I first read it from the book Atomic Habits then tried implementing it also i wrote down all the tasks i need to do tomorrow in a journal and the main thing was how will i do it and that helped a lot from like studying only around 30 mins a day to studying around 2 hours everyday in 2 weeks I know the progress isn't that much like boom 12 hours a day and shit but yeah still a big achievement for me.

I truly love your videos! They are easy to comprehend, I love the visuals, the research behind what you're sharing, the balance between seriousness and humor, and just the overall quality! I've learned so much on your channel and I am incredibly grateful to you both!! Your videos are a gift to students worldwide and to the RU-vid community ❤

Omg this vid dropped at the most perfect timing, my life's taken a dip recently and i feel like i dont have the power to do everything all at once so thank you so much for providing me a step by step process!

Answer to the integral problem in thumbnail is - 4ln(|x−2|)+5ln(|x+3|)+C I got maths exam tommorow 🥶

Since I'm starting high school this year, this video will 100% help me. I struggled in middle school when it came to homework because I kept procrastinating. This video has definitely given, in my opinion, good tips to stay focused and thrive. Even though this video is 3 months old, thank you! ^^

This is crazy. I've noticed all these steps before, but seeing you place them together and explaining how it works really helps, Thanks!

as someone with adhd who struggled with procrastination A LOT, (even when i was on my meds, bc procrastination also became a habit of mine) one approach i adopted that helped me get my work done is to find the best time for me. To further expand on this, I noticed that as the day progresses, my motivation and even focus becomes less snd less. Especially since i have afternoon classes (12:45 pm on wards everyday, usually finish around 6 pm) so instead of doing any hard work after, i decided to start waking muuuuch earlier and getting the stuff that i dislike doing done before class.

You're helping thousands of us out here. I personally needed this most at this moment. Thank you💖

Yesss I've been watching lots of self improvement videos lately and they've all been telling the same strategies. I know what i need to do thanks a lot man

tomorrow is exams

I'm glad this experience is relatable and something common because when I had a mentor in high school, she would always ask me about my studies. I would say I procrastinate, but it’s because I have anxiety when approaching studies. she didn’t undertand and would just say “just start studying” and throw me some studying techniques. i convinced myself i was weird…

After a joint this is just a fantastic video ! Got me hooked from the start and got me writing notes to remember for later , I really think this is gunna help me relearn patterns in my behaviour and give the autopilot response a better use

Answer to the integration in thumbnail is--- 9/5 ln [ x^2 + x - 6] - 1/2 ln [(x-2)/(x+3)]

Thanks man I'm studying for my exam in the middle of Ramadan and it's hard. So now i know what to do to get the motivation.

Thank you for making actually helpful videos. I’ve really struggled at uni because I’ve taken on tonnes and am a procrastinator. Your videos make me realise I can study 5 hours a day :)

Me trying to solve the integral on the thumbnail😂

This is all REALLY good info. I had a lot of goals that were overwhelming last summer so I utterly failed. Instead of giving up I decided to do one set of push-ups, one Spanish lesson, 1 day of dieting etc. I ended up losing 20 pounds. I’m still working out, now 3 days a week doing 2 sets of 7 workouts and I have a 328 day streak studying Spanish! And with school work I always tell myself just go sit down and do one homework problem so I have less the next day and I’m gonna have to do it anyway so if I do it now I can enjoy some free time watching RU-vid and TV at night and then I’ll end up doing way more than I planned

Figure out a way to make it fun and start small and try it out has always been the biggest ways to get me addicted to good things

Atomic Habits is great, just started it a couple weeks ago and I've learned so much, great reminder from this video. Only thing I have to start working on now is to start applying it consistently.

I'm currently studying for a final exam for the next 100 days in Iran called konkoor to get a good result but i really have to stay motivated and practice every single day and the motivation i use to do the hard thing is when i have free time between sessions, I usually search up people that already reached my goal and get motivation to do that hard physic chapter. But the things you suggested today was amazing i will try that out. Thank you

something that has got me started doing hard things to such an extent that it became a habit is really this idea of having fun or at least gamifying my life. something that I havent heard many say is also that i take inspiration for the person i want to be from characters in books, comics and movies and then when i struggle i think of them, or even act like i am them and its somehow incredibly motivating for me

Great video mate. I stumbled on it by accident but I think it's fantastic. I really appreciate how simple you've made it to do hard things and trick the brain, I'll definitely be applying these tips to develop better study habits. Also your animated avatar looks dope as.

Thank You so much for sharing this insight! I sometimes struggle with addiction during tough times in my life, and I just now noticed that during these phases, I really do identify with the “addict mentality” more than with the new, more controlled sober personality I try to focus on… :) Maybe this will help me for the future, now that I know it. Thank You for helping people realize even small things that might make life a lot easier.

I really needed this video, so thanks so much for all of these tips. I'll try to be working on the two minute rule and just trying to have fun, I think this is going to help a lot!

You are a humongous lifesaver. God had to have sent you. This is just crazy!!! I’ve been staying up WAY TOO LATE, losing sleep because there’s an assignment i need to finish that I’ve been having trouble on. I really don’t want to wait til the morning and have to rush it and get all stressed out because it’s due right before school starts so i’ve refused to sleep but i’m also avoiding it and watching RU-vid instead and now if i decided to go to bed and wake up early, I wouldn’t get much sleep so it would be better if i just woke up normally. This was the one thing that convinced me to return. Thank you so so much!!!

This is nice. I needed this video, as a MSc student, there is this constant struggle I have with essays and meeting up with the deadlines. Will give this a try, Thanks!

00:00 Trick your brain to do difficult things 01:08 Identify the source of resistance to trick the brain into working with us. 02:16 Break tasks into small steps to reduce overwhelming emotions 03:19 Batching is an effective way to incentivize hard work with enjoyable things 04:21 Our actions are consistent with our self-image 05:28 Taking the pressure off and having fun can improve performance 06:34 Trick your brain by aligning your identity with the actions of the person you want to become. 07:38 Consistency leads to motivation Crafted by Merlin AI.

Who else is watching this to procrastinate studying?

Thank you so much! I've actually been enjoying studying for the past 3 months now, the end reward is so satisfying.

as someone with adhd, i struggle with doing, most things, but i feel this video will help me, thank you for your tips, i will use them, hopefully, thank you again for you knowledge

This is great, i started mind tricking myself a while ago now, but that video just gives me even MORE motivation and hyped me to even go further with thoose tricks. Awesome vid bro!

Hey Mike and Matty!! Can't thank u enough for the quality content u guys are giving us.... Requesting u to make videos on the following topics: 1. How to overcome brainfog 2. While speaking or making presentation mind goes blank on what to speak next even after having a firm hold on the topic I'm presenting. As I can see u guys as wonderful presenters of content, guide me on how to overcome this

It actually makes so much sense When I haven't worked out in a while, it gets easier and easier not to think about it with each passing day But if i hit a streak and see good results in the mirror, my brain starts literally bullying me for skipping exercise. Like, it's easier to just suffer physically for an hour than mentally for the whole day when my brain keeps telling me I've gotten fat for skipping this one session lol I also used to run for a while, and that was the only time in the day I could devote to listening to music (one of my favourite things in the world), and that also helped

This was very helpful thank you!!! It helped me identify my main issue of procrastinating right now. I remembered how I used to get myself to do things/ learn! I always thought Im a person that learns but this school year I didn't, and things went wrong so far. But thanks to you I found the issue I was searching for! Thanks!

i love how your vids provide such amazing advices and address the actual problem

4 and 5 work for me, I think, but the biggest boost to do hard things is actually seeing results. That's why baby steps are good for me, not necessarily to trick yourself that you are doing only that much, but to let you see the motivating results in every small goal achieved.

After watching endless videos of this topic, i think i finally found the one, i even took notes, i will definetly be trying these out, thank you so much, you got yourself a new subscriber :)

You words describe things directly but simply, and your tone is nice to listen to. And the logical advice you are giving is advice I wouldn't know where to find. A+ SSS 100% Until someone does it better, which is inevitable. Thank you for spending the time to organize and make this video!

That is actually like a good summary of parts of the book ’atomic habits‘ from James clear. It helps me to understand it even more with your visuals:)

I love the time and effort you guys poured in editing your videos!

I say this from the bottom of my heart, may your days be beautiful and your paths be filled with joy. And for this gem that you have decided to share with the world, may life give you many blessed opportunities to discover its beauty and light. Thank you, bro

This was really helpful to get out of procrasinating, I always knew that the work had to be done but I never knew how to get that motivated to do it, amazing video.

I love that my brain is trying to trick itself and is currently speaking in third person

You are giving solutions to literally every problem i have 😂❤️

The tip about having fun is so true. Last year my class had to ready this thick af book with a lot of quotes in latin in it, and everybody basically wanted to off themselves and tried to put off reading it as much as possible; but I had kind of made up a narrative of where the story was gonna go, I was randomly shipping characters and making up weird conspiracy theories... So basically trying to have fun in a dumb whacky way while reading that extremely hard book. With this method and perspective, I was the only one that actually managed to finished it and remembered a lot of details about it when it came to the class test

I followed the steps thoroughly and now I am more productive than usual.In my class,I am among the toppers.Thanks for the steps btw

I think the most important part to realize is that getting started with anything is always going to be the hardest part. That’s why it’s important to take it slow and steady at first to convince your brain that even if this activity feels unpleasant right now and you suck at it, you only need to do a little bit of it every day. Gradually you will improve and habits will form. It might even become second nature and you will start to enjoy it, and that’s when consistency becomes easy. I’m personally using this approach with physical fitness and building my art skills. I’ve been going to the gym consistently for over a year now, and I’m in the best shape of my life. I enjoy going, and the mental friction I feel when trying to convince myself to go is almost nonexistent at this point because I started small and gradually worked myself up to the level I’m at now. Art comes much less naturally to me, so it’s been challenging, but I found that it’s easy to convince myself to sit down every single day for at least 15 minutes and practice drawing, so I’ve been using that approach to slowly, but steadily, build my skills. The key, for me at least, is convincing myself that the task ahead of me is not as daunting as it seems, and being patient and allowing myself to take it at my own pace. That’s what keeps me consistent.

First time I finish a video and say to myself I need to watch that again beacsue I learnt so much from it and feel very inspired! My key takeaway is changing the self talk narrative in my head from a negative one to a positive one :). I wish you could do a longer video on fear!

Thank you sooo much man! This truly helped me calm down my anxiety attack ❤

This is brilliant, am so grateful,thank you!

stumbling across this video is single-handedly the best thing that could've came from my procrastination and binge youtube watching LMAOOO trying to avoid my work but now i have the tools to get back at it i guess XD. see y'all on the other side of my many many online lecture videos i have to sit thru🤘

My mindset has always been like that and it is the only thing that I’m proud to say that I got thanks to effort ; and never giving up in my journey, Thanks for the advices !!

I just watched your video after having it saved in my 'watch later' for such a long time. And I can say that I found a lesson in every word you said. Thanks a lot for sharing this video. :)

i just used one of the hints before watching the video. this video was on a side window for a couple weeks now to "watch later", so when i got to my computer, i was like "i will watch this video and then i can watch the other videos". so great video, definitely got a subscribe

Thank you for all the content! It has made me into a better student and person. I look forward to watching this vid :)

Long-term goals are difficult to see their results immediately. You have to set a system for them, such as setting a follow-up schedule to continue :)

Thanks, this was recommended to me 2 months before exams. I feel a lot more energetic and focused in studies.

Thank you so much, this really helped 🙏

One thing that always has worked for me is "forgetting the time" I've seen a lot of people just saying oh I'll start working at 8 but then u look at the clock and it's 8:03 then you go AH BETTER LUCK NEXT TIME I stopped considering time as a value and started whenever I feel like and ended when I feel like This has truly helped me so much

I do the reverse procrastination like I would tell my mind if I do it now I wouldn't have to do it later, it works for me lol

Honestly thank you this is really what I needs I’m getting ready for an exam and this really helped thanks a lot

Thanks for all your valuable tips. I'm gonna try it out

Fun fact :- My mind is learning how to trick itself 😂

00:00 Trick your brain to do difficult things 01:08 Identify the source of resistance to trick the brain into working with us. 02:16 Break tasks into small steps to reduce overwhelming emotions 03:19 Batching is an effective way to incentivize hard work with enjoyable things 04:21 Our actions are consistent with our self-image 05:28 Taking the pressure off and having fun can improve performance 06:34 Trick your brain by aligning your identity with the actions of the person you want to become. 07:38 Consistency leads to motivation

Awesome brother thanks for making this

Telling a 16 year old that she is pregnant💀💀

0:05 in india, it's really disrespectful to hit your books from slippers There, Books are considered as deities of knowledge

1) 2 min rule 2) Get ready for the work no matter what, just get ready. 3) Batch work with rewards. 4) We act on beliefs of ourselves. 5) Have fun, treat work as game. 6) change the narritive , we act on the way we think about ourselves.. 7) Be consistent and have progress bar.

Examining the 5 Clear Indicators That Define Introverts in a Brief and Informative #shorts: ru-vid.comznMOt8-s5K4?feature=share

I can't even concentrate in this video

5:00, bro used a horrible video to illustrate the example of telling a 16yr old that she is pregnant

Changed my life thank so much man

Bro you really make my day, like i have no friends in school, in my class all are girls, and, now i knows that life is like this if you are alone its ok, but you are here to tell me things thaat i want in my brain..... ❤❤❤

Make this the most liked comment on youtube

I took the Engineering Licensure exam last year and one of the most helpful thing i did during my review to help my brain focus is giving myself small rewards every-time i accomplish a milestone or a even a small task. Im really not used to studying but everytime I think about eating good food if I finish a hard topic I get more drive to finish my study topic.

Thaks sir! ,now i can doing my homework without any boring stuff in my mind!

Thank you very much for all your videos! They are really useful 👍

I really love how your video quality has improved over the years.

See here's the thing, I really like all of these for sure! They'll work for you if you can do them, but the problem is doing that. Things like changing naritives and batching are very good, but idk, it just feels impossible to go along with it. Its like talking to a spoiled child, but also, it feels more like a spoiled child that knows he won't suffer any consequences. Like I'll try to say "OK, I'll play smash bros, but only after 30 minutes of video editing", but then realize, "wait, what's actually stopping me from just playing now?" and play anyway. My boss isn't gonna give me shit if I don't go for a walk and none of my friends are gonna hate me if I put off cleaning my room for another week, so there isn't really a reason. I just find that it's really hard to set fake value for myself like that. My motivation for anything usually comes from impressing someone else or just generally from how others think about me. Like I might be really excited about the outcome of a video I'm working on, but it's still really hard to sit down and work on it, but like, if a co worker that didn't know I made videos told me they were really looking forward to it, I'd probably even overwork myself to get it out. The naritives thing as well. I just have trouble going a long with it. Like again, if someone else that I look up to told me that I was talented and funny, I'd take that naritive as pretty much a gospel, almost a big part what makes me "me". even realizing that myself, trying to form that as my personal naritive just makes me feel like I'm telling myself that stuff just to boost my confidence, not because I actually believe it. Same with the workout example. "but I don't work out, why would I say that? if I was someone who worked out, I'd would have started working out by now. I'll be someone who works out once I actually start consistently working out". I guess it's just that I hate being wrong, and it's almost scary how hard it is to even say things wrong knowingly, so my mind just refuses to work with that. I guess I just have a bad relationship with lying to myself and such, it's something I clearly do knowingly and even somehow manage to believe it. It's usually lies that fit my internal naritive. My current one being "I'm someone with tons of skill and high potential, but I'm too lazy and unwilling to put in the work to get it done, and I don't have the motivation either." it's a bad naritive, and I've definitely purposely ignored or exaggerating past events to further this in my brain, but it just really hard to realize that on an "acting like your naritive" sence. And yeah, that naritive is just as harmful as it sounds, cuz it just means I'm constantly thinking about wanting to unlock that potential, but I've just become so comfortable with me being a procrastinator that thinking different is hard

Some of the most helpful advice I've heard, thanks buddy 👍

Now I'm in love with this Man. Thank you so much for this😊

Dude thank you i owe you one in helping me fight my depression in jobhunting for film making and practice drawing