by Tiffany Walking Eagle | 6-minute read

Do you struggle to make yourself do stuff you hate? Things like putting away laundry? Paperwork? Scrubbing the toilet? Meal prep? Cleaning the oven?

Join the club!

No matter who you are, there are some tasks we need to do that we really just would rather not. And truthfully, the hardest part of these tasks isn’t doing them; it’s getting started.

If you’re like me, it feels like pulling teeth to get myself to do some of the things I hate, like cleaning out the fridge or vacuuming or mailing stuff.

BUT I HAVE GOOD NEWS!

You can make doing these deplorable things that you need to do but don’t want to do MUCH easier! I’m not saying you’re going to love every second of it or anything (I’m not a wizard, sorry), but you can make getting yourself to do the things a lot less like pulling teeth.

And rather than having these annoying to-dos hanging over your head for days, you can get them done with as much ease as possible and actually relax once in a while. Sounds nice, right?

These are three super easy, awesome, and actionable strategies I learned from the book Atomic Habits by James Clear. (I super recommend checking out this book, by the way.)

If you’re thinking these strategies are all just do it or you gotta just work up the motivation, bruh, think again. These are all about hacking and conditioning your brain to change the way it categorizes/associates certain behaviors and tasks so that it’s easier to get them done.

So give ‘em a read and a try, and let me know how it goes!

1. Temptation Bundling

Honestly, this is probably my favorite one. The premise of temptation bundling is simply this: take a task you don’t enjoy doing and figure out a way to combine it with something you do enjoy doing.

I like to call it bribing myself with something fun to do the chore I despise. For example, it’s hard to convince myself to meal prep, but it is way easier to get myself to do if I sip on a glass of wine or can of sparkling water while I cook.

I also struggle to make myself fold laundry and put it away, but now, I bust out my iPad and watch my favorite show on Netflix or Hulu while I work. The pull of wanting to catch up on whatever I’m currently bingeing (or rewatching essentials like Parks & Rec or Friends, tbh) makes getting started so. much. easier.

Here are a few more temptation bundling ideas, just for good measure:

-Put on your favorite playlist or podcast while you scrub the oven or clean the kitchen.

-Soak your feet and slap on a face mask while you respond to work emails.

-Sip on a delicious smoothie while you workout.

-Light a decadent candle and drink a cup of coffee or your favorite tea while you do paperwork.

One other incredible benefit of temptation bundling is the more that you bundle the two tasks and repeat them together, the more your brain starts to associate them together.

So after a while, you’ll start to associate a tasty smoothie with working out, or folding laundry with your favorite show, or cleaning up the kitchen with your favorite tunes. And you’ll find yourself getting started much more easily, without having to pull out any teeth. Thank goodness!!

2. Habit Stacking

Habit stacking is the art of taking a habit you have down already and combining it with one you might struggle to do consistently.

One example of habit stacking that’s mentioned in the book that I’ve put into practice for myself is cleaning the toilet before I jump in the shower.

I shower every day, so that’s not a problem, but I have been known to put off scrubbing my toilet for a few days too long. (Don’t worry, I never let it get too gross, but I put it off longer than needed.) So now, while I’m waiting for the shower water to heat up, I use that time to spray down, scrub, and wipe the toilet. Sometimes I’ll even turn around and quickly pick up and wipe down the counter. Pretty dang easy.

Here are some examples of simple habit stacking:

-While you’re waiting for your food to cook or heat in the microwave (or hey, maybe you’re waiting for your takeout/delivery meal, I’d never judge), load the dishwasher.

-While you’re waiting for your coffee to brew, chug a large glass of water.

-After you pour your coffee, stretch for five minutes.

So on, so forth, et cetera. Basically, you’re building mini-rituals that help you get things done far more efficiently, and you’re simplifying a task you tend to procrastinate by starting to associate it with a habit that’s basically second nature.

3. Your brain remembers when you fill in the blanks: “I will do [TASK] at [TIME] at [PLACE.]

How many times have you told yourself dangit, I need to remember to do this random little thing tomorrow by this time and then you think okay, I’ll remember. Then tomorrow rolls around, and you completely space it until it randomly happens to occur to you hours or even days later.

OR maybe memory isn’t your problem, but procrastination is.

Either way, I got ya covered, Sister (or Mister).

I used to procrastinate washing my makeup off and completing my little skincare routine until right before bed, and inevitably I’d end up sleepily stumbling into the bathroom, doing a half-cocked job of washing my face, and skipping my skincare routine. Some especially tired nights I hate to admit that I’d end up falling asleep in my makeup.

Here’s what I do now: Every day I say to myself “I will complete my skincare routine at 10 pm in the bathroom.”

In Atomic Habits, Clear recommends thinking through the tiny steps you take on the way to getting the things done. So in reality, it looks like “I will get up from my seat, walk down the hall, enter the bathroom, pick up my hairclip, put my hair up, and complete my skincare routine.”

The reason why is that studies have shown that when we actually think about the steps we need to take to get something done, we are far more likely to do it.

Also, notice the inclusion of the “place” in that formula. I think a lot of us think of the task and the timing, but we fail to think of the location.

That is absolutely key because, for some reason, our brains connect memories with places. (Check out this article for more info on this fascinating phenomenon.)

For example, how many times have you been asked Do you remember where you were on the morning of 9/11? Or maybe Do you remember where you were when Kennedy was shot?

Most of us do remember. (If we’re old enough; I was 5 years old on 9/11 and I remember exactly where I was.)

Make a little more sense as to why location is a vital part of remembering to do stuff? Pretty crazy.

Basically, these methods are ways to streamline productivity so we don’t have to think about it as much. It’s the lazy way to be productive!

Are you going to try any of these strategies? Let me know how it goes in the comments below! As always, thanks for reading! <3

3 Ways to Hack Your Brain So You'll Do Stuff You Procrastinate

1. Temptation Bundling

2. Habit Stacking

3. Your brain remembers when you fill in the blanks: “I will do [TASK] at [TIME] at [PLACE.]