Simple Trick to Remove Stress Right Now

After several days of writing on productivity and time management, I have one final tip on removing stress.

Do the hardest thing you have to do right now!

Most of us naturally procrastinate when it comes to doing difficult things. We keep finding excuses to delay doing the things we don't want to do.

• The phone call you don't want to make
• The confrontation you've been avoiding
• That email you're not sure how to respond to
• The decision you don't want to make

We procrastinate because we're scared of the negative emotional reaction the experience will bring.  So we keep pushing further and further back.  However, this actually has the reverse effect.  By delaying doing hard things, you experience the anxiety surrounding the action without the emotional progress of actually acting.

In particular, if you have an active mind like me, you can always come up with a 1,000 reasons things are going to go really badly.  My imaginary version of how things are going to unfold always seems to be far worse than what actually happens.  By procrastinating, you experience all the anxiety and negative emotions surrounding 1,000 possible outcomes which never happen!

If you want to end today with less stress, and feel like you accomplished something, DO THE HARDEST THING YOU NEED TO DO AND DO IT NOW! 

DO THE THING YOU DON'T WANT TO DO RIGHT NOW!


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