It was tough to regularly hit the gym, study for exams, or do hard things, even if I knew it was for my own good.

Recently though, I've been able to consistently take action and I realized it actually has nothing to do with willpower because there's a way to trick our brain into doing difficult things even when we don't feel like it.

So to outsmart our brain, we first have to look at how our mind works because our behaviors have patterns.

And if we pay attention, we'll discover that hard work is always met with two types of resistance.

First, negative emotions.

The analogy I always use here is to think of our brain like a spoiled child.

When they don't get their way, what do they do?

They complain and throw a tantrum.

Our mind works the exact same way.

When things feel stressful or boring, our inner child awakens and we procrastinate, like imagining how difficult it's gonna be to get started with our work for the day, start a side hustle, or study for exams.

Second is our ego or the self-image we have about ourselves.

Our mind does its best to protect our ego from being hurt because the ego is what we attach our self-worth to.

For example, if I grew up believing I was gifted or better than most people, that makes me feel special.

But if, suddenly, I had to do something outside of my comfort zone, like ask out a beautiful woman, I would subconsciously avoid it because if I failed, that would prove I wasn't gifted and it would destroy my ego.

So instead, to preserve my self-image, I would avoid doing the hard thing at all.

So in either case of resistance, trying to fight against our brain's natural response to doing hard things, it won't work.

But if we identify the source of the resistance, we can change our approach to trick our brain into working with us.

So let's start with negative emotions.

The amount of negative emotion you feel towards something directly depends on the size of it.

For example, the feeling of boredom would be substantially worse if I knew I had to spend two months without my phone versus spending one hour without it.

I would feel substantially more overwhelmed if I had to write an entire book than if I had to write one paragraph.

Our mind is very visual.

It does a mental calculation for the amount of effort and struggle it's gonna take to reach that end goal.

So what if instead we shift the goal?

So first tip is tell yourself you're only gonna do the hard thing for a little bit, right?

You're only gonna take a baby step.

Finishing the entire UWorld QBank is a lot of damage, but let's just do one practice problem.

Getting jacked feels impossible, but let's just do one set of bench press.

Running a 10K sounds really, really far, but hey, let's just run around the block.

James Clear calls this technique the two minute rule.

We can lower the stakes of the task so the negative emotions around it don't feel so overwhelming.

Do the hard thing for just a little bit and then reevaluate how you feel.

That wasn't that bad, so what would it look like to just do it for a little bit longer?

How bad would it be to do one more practice problem or one more bench press?

When we break apart a huge daunting challenge into very small steps, it won't feel so scary.

It will be more likely to follow through.

Another trick that's absolutely worked for me is I'll just start getting ready.

Like if I'm supposed to go work out, but I'm feeling resistance, I just change into my shorts.

I'll put on my shoes and grab my keys.

If I feel frustrated that I have to study, I'll just open up my textbook.

I'll pull up my study scheduler.

I'll get my calculator out.

I'm not telling myself I'm gonna do it.

I just start getting ready.

And usually just going through the motions of getting ready, I eventually convince myself that, you know, well, I might as well just do it now since I'm already here.

This literally happened to me this morning.

Like some guy called and tried to sell me like landscaping services.

Not even had a house.

You know, he was like, well, since I have you on the phone already, or like you came all this way, you might as well just buy it, right?

Seriously, this tip works.

Just give it a shot.

The next thing you can try is to batch difficult work with enjoyable work or with rewards.

Remember, our brain is a spoiled child.

So we need to speak to it that way or else we'll encounter even more resistance.

Like say you're a babysitting a kid and they start throwing a tantrum about doing their homework.

I would say, well, if you finish your homework, watch a movie and you get to choose the movie.

Batching is incredibly underrated and effective.

I used this all the time when I was in school.

I'd make plans to go out with friends, but only if I finished my work before then.

Or I'd only watch anime if I was on the Stairmaster.

Try to find ways to incentivize hard work with enjoyable things and the negative emotions around it won't be so high and be more likely to do it.

Let's move on to ego now.

So our ego is formed based on all our past experiences and it defines who we are and shapes our reality.

In Maxwell Maltz's book, Psycho-Cybernetics, he explains that all of our actions, feelings, behaviors, even our abilities are always consistent with our self image.

We can only act based on beliefs we have about ourselves, but our beliefs have nothing to do with the action itself.

For example, regardless of whether or not I believe I can run a five minute mile, the act of running, trying is exactly the same.

The only difference is that my ego puts up resistance because it's afraid of failing.

So something we can do is what I call taking the pressure off our ego.

During clinical rotations in medical school, I frequently had to step out of my comfort zone and do difficult things.

I had to give lectures.

I had to do procedures.

I had to break tough news to families.

I even had to tell a 16 year old she was pregnant.

And if you've never done it before and you know you're gonna suck at it and multiple high profile doctors are watching and grading your performance, let me tell you, it is terrifying.

But I did work with other students who didn't really seem bothered.

Like even when they made mistakes or they messed up and stuff, they were eager to get back at it.

I remember asking one of my friends how she was always so positive and willing to step out of her comfort zone.

And she told me she wasn't even thinking about that.

All she was doing was having fun.

She was immersed in the process, learning and treating it like a game.

And that idea really stuck with me.

If we take the pressure off the ego and just focus on having fun, the resistance drops and we can just start to enjoy the task and actually perform better.

Alex Lowe, he was this inspirational mountaineer who was notorious for his infectious enthusiasm.

He once said, the best climber is the one having the most fun.

And I think that idea truly applies to so many things in life, especially when doing difficult things.

Now, of course, you're probably thinking, what if there's absolutely no way I can imagine this hard thing being fun?

What if waking up at 5 a.m., running in the freezing cold to the gym to lift heavy things just can't be fun?

Fair enough, there is another trick we can use on our brain.

Change the narrative we have about ourselves.

We all talk to ourselves, but what most people don't realize is that the words we use are very important.

There are nuances in language we can use to trick our brain.

For example, change the narrative so that doing the actions of that hard thing aligns with your identity.

Take this statement for example.

If I tell myself, I need to work out and get in shape, my brain receives this message, processes it and decides, you know what?

We're not gonna work out today.

Because by definition, if I need to get in shape, that means I in fact am not in shape.

And someone who's not in shape is not someone who works out, and so I'm not gonna work out.

My brain's gonna resist working out and come to this crazy conclusion because it doesn't align with my identity.

But if I rearrange the words a bit and I tell myself, I am a person who works out.

Well, what do people who work out do?

They go to the gym.

They're probably in shape.

Great, that means I'd go to the gym.

Doing that hard thing will align with my self-image because remember, we can only act according to how we view ourself.

I know this might sound crazy, but I'm not saying to flat out lie to yourself.

Obviously, I can't say, I'm a person who will launch a billion dollar company tomorrow.

That's just outright foolish.

But this is why language is so important.

The key to tricking our brain is to align our identity with the actions of the person we wanna become, not the end result.

I'm not saying I am super jacked.

I'm saying I am someone who works out.

You see the difference?

One of those is based on progress, based on actions.

And the other one is based on fantasy.

Now, of course, we don't want our brain to be in a constant state of deception.

Tricking our brain is not a permanent solution to getting us off our asses and actually doing difficult work.

But it actually doesn't need to be.

Once we're able to cultivate consistency in our work and in our habits, that itself becomes a snowball effect that perpetuates motivation.

Consistent action leads to progress, which leads to motivation.

Seeing gains in muscle growth gave me motivation to go to the gym.

And the more I went to the gym, the better I got at exercising.

Because no one likes to be bad at what they do.

That's a breeding ground for negative emotions and ego buffering.

Once we develop consistency, we'll start to enjoy doing the hard things.

We'll start to enjoy the stressful feeling of pushing heavy weights.

We'll start to enjoy the cognitive effort of studying and learning.

And that is the ultimate goal.

Definitely try these out for yourself.

Those are some of the strategies that I use to get myself to do hard things by tricking my brain.

If you've got other strategies to use, drop them in the comments below.

Let me check them out.

And I will see you in the next video.