Doing hard stuff sucks.

At least, that's what my former self used to think.

I used to procrastinate harder than anyone else I knew.

I'd leave my workouts till the last minute.

Meal prep till the end of the week.

Projects till last week.

Doing hard stuff was tough for me.

Yet, over the years, I've found that 'hard things' was just my perspective.

There's 3 part framework I've developed that's helped me knock out the hard things every day while building self-belief and confidence in myself.

Here's the framework:

Step One

Do the hard things FIRST.

While obvious, most of us feed into procrastination by doing the easy things first.

Stop doing this.

Do the hard things first.

You create a new habit once you do this for two days or more.

Skipping your workouts?

Do them in the morning or earlier in the day.

Avoiding a big project?

Start first thing in the morning.

Don't want to cook or do meal prep?

Put some music on and do it first thing in the morning.

Do the hard things first, and they will start to become less hard.

The interesting thing about hard things?

They aren't hard until we start labeling them as such.

For one person, working out is easy.

And another, it can be very difficult.

Excluding health concerns or conditions, the only difference is their perspective.

How they view things.

Wayne Dyer had a great quote on this.

It always comes down to perspective.

How are we viewing things?

And what are the labels that we place upon them?

We can shift this in a second.

Step Two

Give yourself minimum time to overthink.

Mel Robbins has a famous rule she shares with her readers.

The 5-second rule.

Give yourself 5 seconds to make a decision.

No more, no less.

One of the characteristics of all successful people is that they make decisions fast and change them rarely, if ever.

Overthinking and procrastination are everyday habits of the average person.

But if you want to transcend your ego's tendency towards pain or pleasure, start to train your mind.

Our higher self, or soul, doesn't reside in easy or hard. Good or bad. Pain or pleasure.

It focuses on what is or isn't.

In neutrality.

In beingness.

So, learning to become a fast decision-maker is inherent and natural.

It's just about reconnecting to this and stripping away the conditioning surrounding many of our minds.

And you can strip this away by practicing this every day.

Every time you have a hard thing in front of you?

Be decisive.

Cut away at the excuses and dive in.

The more you do this, the stronger this will become for you.

Practice makes permanent.

Step Three

Celebrate small victories and track your wins.

Without acknowledgment, repetition becomes challenging.

Acknowledge each step of your growth.

Acknowledge the small wins.

The victories (big or small).

The speedbumps.

Acknowledge who you're becoming.

And what you're doing each day.

We all want to be acknowledged.

But one of the greatest forms of acknowledgments?

From yourself.

From you to you.

If you're like me and you tend not to acknowledge yourself, then this is even more important.

While it's easy for me to acknowledge others, I've had to become intentional with how I acknowledge myself.

I often overlook or skip my growth or accomplishments (often because I didn't think it was good enough...)

I was wrong.

I am enough.

And I am worthy.

And I deserve to acknowledge myself.

Because if I don't do it, I'll rely on external validation and acknowledgment forever.

And true confidence and belief come from within.

Not from outside.

The seeds of self-acknowledgment are within us all.

It just takes two days or more to build the habit.

So, build the habit today.

You can do the hard things by doing them first, being decisive, and acknowledging yourself.

This week, knock out some hard things in your health, body, and life.

Let me know how it goes. :)

​

- Gabriel

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