3 Ways to Trick Your Brain Into Doing Hard Work

In this video, I'll share three ways you can motivate yourself to do hard work.

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[Thomasfrank]

Here's my 1% Rule log for this video:

- Spent a lot of time learning new techniques in Lightroom and Photoshop for making better thumbnails. Can you believe I didn't know what the burn and dodge tools did before this?

While I didn't have time to work it into this video, I started learning Adobe Illustrator this week. Next week's video will have some dope motion graphics as a result!


P.S. - What other tricks do you use to get yourself to start your work?

[AuthenticSelfGrowth]

Being in flow is an egoless state. Its when you're doing your work just for the sake of doing it with little concern about the end product. This frees you up to not only enjoy what you're doing but also helps you produce your best work.

[emilyhintzen]

Video starts at 3:22
1. Start incredibly small
2. Allow yourself to create garbage
3. Jot things down in non-ideal places

[RafaelEliassen]

“Thinking too much leads to paralysis by analysis. It's important to think things through, but many use thinking as a means of avoiding action." – Robert Herjavek

[DarshanShah]

Thanks for this Thomas! This is super helpful for PhD students like me, who need to write their thesis and research work, and just can't seem to get out of the mental block and into the flow state.

To summarize:
1. Start incredibly small
2. Allow yourself to create work that might be garbage
3. Do work in non-ideal places

[krystalb]

Me watching this after trying to reverse psychology myself into doing my math assignment

[delennh]

This channel has truly changed my life

[armeetindergill]

1. Start incredibly small
2. Do it badly
3. Work in non-ideal places as the work space can sometimes feel intimidating. Keep a journal/sticky notes/voice recorders around.

[thomas_james_yt]

I can't even begin to describe how important the distraction journal is.


I recently started writing "Morning Pages" to get my thoughts out in the morning, allowing me to trap my anxieties on paper. It's amazing how much clearer the rest of my day is when I accomplish this.

[mumn]

Start Incredibly Small 3:28
Allow Yourself to Create "garbage" 5:38
Jot Things Down in Non-ideal places 6:25

[rudylabsilica]

That’s what I need- a “Distraction” journal! So many ideas pop up when I’m doing something else, only to forget them later and then kicking myself for not remembering them. Thanks Thomas! Okay carry on...

[its.dragaton]

i think this is why i'm so good at getting stuff done when it's on a whim and i didn't really think about doing it beforehand. like the other day, i painted an entire wall in my room. but the day didn't start out with me wanting to paint a wall; i just wanted to dust and vacuum my room and that small task turned into the much bigger task that i normally would have had to psyche myself up to do.

[DemetriPanici]

My 3 ways
1. Watch Thomas Frank to get inspired
2. Watch Thomas Frank to get inspired
3. Listen to the college info geek podcast

[AshaoFreeSky]

Thomas, your videos are phenomenal. I’ve been following you for several years and your videos just keep getting better. From the content quality, to the teaching style, to the production value... all of it excellent. All of it constantly getting better. I know I’m just a random person on the Internet but I want you to know that you make a difference in my life. Keep up the incredible work.

[ladybug_lucy]

You’ve spoken about a distraction journal in several of your past videos (such as with the Pomodoro Technique) and learning about that from you has helped me so much! I used to remember all kinds of things right in the middle of studying—from grocery lists to event invitations—and it would bounce around my head while I was trying to concentrate. Being able to write those distractions down and stop worrying that I’ll forget them later has led to much more focused work, so thank you, Thomas!

[thebrandonvu]

Love this! Thank you for sharing this Tom. You perfectly expressed what I was slowly starting to realise. Love your content!!

[Shaice]

me, a mechanical engineer, sitting here and listening to thomas talking, and then I hear the word non-neutonian fluid and my brain immediatly gets ignited. love your vids tom, ps: that term is cursed in my field of study.

[mustafayazc]

I guess I'm in a flow state when watching youtube.

[SlyKooper]

Okay this is getting absurd. Every single time I’m struggling to fix something one week, Thomas always releases a video regarding the thing I want to get better at about myself. You’re my hero!!

[TheGordonFryman]

Great tips in here, Thomas!
I'm a game developer and, whenever I sit down to start coding something, I always get that mental barrage of "things I must think about", like you on your music production endeavours. I start thinking about the code, the project's architecture etc and usually get paralyzed, just sitting there, thinking, and going nowhere.

I'll try to adapt what you said about just "start messing around" to "just start writing some code", so I can see a clearer picture of what I'm trying to do. Thanks!