The work needs doing
Everybody knows the situation when you should be working, studying or applying for a new job but somehow you don´t get your ass up and face the discomfort of actual labour. Procrastination seems to plague everyone even me as I experienced first hand in the last two weeks. I am currently preparing for my final exams in high school and as you know by reading my blogs life rewards the prepared. I have goals to reach and to hit these goals I have to get straight A´s or 1s in the German school system. I am studying as hard and frequent as I have never before in my life. I was a solid student all my life but I never took studying seriously because it was boring as fuck. Still I made it through school without much difficulty, slacking in some subjects but nothing that wasn´t manageable. But I haven´t done myself a service by not studying or taking school as serious in the past. Some gaps which I could compensate on the lower levels of the education leader are now revealed in the open. A half assed preparation is no preparation and so I have to work overtime to ensure my success in the upcoming exams. To my own surprise studying felt less hard then expected. Maybe this is because the goal and the day of reckoning are drawing closer and I know that I have to hustle to make the dreams happen. But also, because I have realized there is no plan B. There is no sugar-coating the hard work. The grades don´t care whether I feel good while learning or not. It only matters whether I can deliver on day X. There is no substitution for studying and so everything else is just distraction. Yes, downtime and relaxation are absolutely vital for effective learning but without effort relaxing is useless. Motivation and getting in the right feeling for work are absolutely bollocks. I realized that I have to just do the work no matter what and if I don´t feel like it then it´s time to force myself to do it. Studying has become so ingrained into my life in the last two weeks that I wake up and walk right over where my PC is. I begin to grind out flashcards 10-20min after stepping out of my bed. It really isn´t the most pleasant thing to do but what is my alternative? Not doing it, engaging in meaningless activities like social media scrolling, watching YouTube or reading fiction novels?
In the future when I look back on this period of my life will I do it with pride that I have done what is necessary to reach my goals and potential or have I wasted this time in order to please my mind with short-term gratification. I am currently laying the foundational bricks for my future career and with that foundational elements for future happiness, a potential family and the resources I will have. So, it seems to be worth it to grind and suffer in order to ensure a successful exam period and an easier life in the future.
With that in mind I shut off the procrastination, and self-soothing talks. I just do what is necessary and as I said previously it isn´t that hard. The work itself is not the difficult part it is about getting your lazy ass to start working. This is a concept which applies to nearly any somewhat difficult endeavour in life. Whether it is studying, working out, doing house chores or anything else you might think of. It has to be done in order to achieve a life you want to live and may it be in the short-term. Cleaning your kitchen will improve your life. There is nothing which can compensate for not doing the difficult tasks. Shut your mind off and do them.
Your mind will seek pleasure without seeing the necessity for preparation. If you aren´t strongly willed you won´t be able to resist those temptation for very long and neither can I. Furthermore, we take up vital mental space which is needed to perform in the task at hand. We fight a losing battle. As well as lulling you in with temptation does your mind bring up other seemingly important tasks which hinder you to make progress but also seem productive. At the end of the day you feel like you have achieved so much but your priority seems to fall short. I am the prime example of productive procrastination as I type these words but I have a promise to uphold and I gladly stop studying to share the insights I have gathered over the past days and weeks to hopefully help someone.
The next time you have to face difficult work just shut your mind of and do the work. It will always be worth it and if not for the direct outcome then for your discipline. We are preparing ourselves all the time for something, sometimes without even noticing it. We prepare for the imminent future and lay the bricks whether our future self can deal with the situation life throws at us or not.
And as you should know life rewards the prepared.
