How to make challenging tasks feel almost effortless

Have you ever found yourself stuck on a task, wondering why this is taking so much effort? Why is this feeling like such a struggle when you ´should be able to do this´?

Do you wish there was an easier way to get tasks done, for it to feel almost effortless and actually be able to enjoy the satisfaction of finishing those challenging tasks?

If yes, then you´re not alone.

The good news is that challenging tasks can feel easier with the right approach.

The secret to this is to stop fighting with yourself but rather the opposite – work with how your brain actually works, let go, and use your feelings of overwhelm or dread as signals for your best next step.

Here are 3 techniques you can start using if you are approaching a challenging task today:

1. Stop fighting with your brain and start working with it

Make important decisions first

Our ability to think is one of our greatest resources. Because we can think whenever we want it´s easy to treat our brain like it´s an unlimited resource with unlimited capacity.

Studies show that our brain´s capacity works a lot like a battery. The more thinking we do and the more decisions we make, our brain battery starts to reduce. This means the quality of our decisions is reduced as the day goes on. Also, harder tasks will reduce this battery faster than simple tasks.

So, to make a challenging task feel more effortless start by tackling the part of the work that requires more brain power earlier in the day. This way you can access the best of your thinking earlier on when your brain is at its best.

 Chunk the task into smaller bits

This one may sound obvious, but the impact of this simple step goes beyond just the obvious doing. When we chunk tasks into smaller bits, we reduce the emotional reaction (overwhelm, dread) we typically get when faced with a challenging task. These reactions are often not because the person lacks all the skills for the task, but for different reasons, have come to see this task as a huge overwhelming amount of work.

By doing this you can deal directly with this feeling of overwhelm. From what we know from motivational psychology is that small steps create momentum and help you get going. You are essentially helping your mind go from ´there is so much to do, it´s SUCH a struggle, I don’t want to do this´ to´ I can handle this´.

This also means that every time you complete those smaller chunks of tasks, you get a hit of dopamine from our brain´s reward system – giving you extra boosts in motivation.

Let yourself procrastinate

Yes, that´s right – procrastinate.

For as long as I can remember there is a myth that we shouldn’t procrastinate – “procrastination is a waste of time, and we should avoid it at all cost”.

When in reality the mental battle we are having with ourselves to not procrastinate, and the guilt it creates is causing more struggle than necessary – not effortless.

When you are working on a complex problem, procrastination is not only a natural part of the process but also has proven benefits. When you´ve been working on something intensely, moving away from the problem allows the subconscious part of your brain to keep processing it in the background. You can think of it like when you´re updating a new software on your phone, but it hasn’t quite finished updating and you´re just letting it do its thing before coming back to check on it.

By giving space and allowing our brain to make new connections and understanding of a topic, we can get new perspectives and solutions to the problem that we wouldn’t have had if we continued to force it.

2. Stop trying to do perfect work, and start doing rubbish work

Do you find yourself caring so much about producing good work, that you end up finding all the reasons in the world not to start on a task? Or other times keep editing and reviewing any of the progress you´ve made – feeling more unmotivated and the task now feels even harder since you haven’t made any progress.

Let me ask you this – how might you approach this IF YOUR KNEW you had to do rubbish work to get to the good work?

The pressure of doing good work (or shall I say perfect) can often make a task feel more challenging. We then spend a lot of mental energy trying to avoid doing anything rubbish.

What would happen if we embraced rubbish?

Did you know that at Pixar they actually have full-on initiatives designed to ´protect their ugly babies´? The ´ugly babies´ they are referring to are the first drafts, our first go at something. They are not saying we need to keep our first attempts but rather that the action of doing so will keep ideas moving and developing. And from there our work can go from ´suck to not-suck´.

So instead of trying to come up with something beautiful in the first sitting, how much easier might it feel to just do some rubbish work knowing that you can now move on to developing it?

3.        Stop trying to make your feelings go away and start listening to what it´s telling you

We´ve all been there with those feelings of overwhelm and dread with at least 1 challenging task in our career. The common response is to try to push it away – I shouldn´t feel like this – a mix of guilt and self-blame that you couldn’t be more effective with a task.

In these moments instead of saying to yourself ´I shouldn’t be feeling this, I should be able to do this´, try instead to ask yourself with openness and curiosity – why am I seeing this to be so challenging?

Is it too big of a task? – ok I can chunk it and break it into smaller bits

Am I expecting it will be rubbish? – ok maybe I can embrace rubbish work

From there you can then choose the right practical approach to help you make the task feel easier and more effortless.

Instead of trying to fight off these feelings (more struggle, not effortless), listen to them as signals telling you what you need right now.

So what I'm saying is that

Challenging tasks don’t have to be so hard and feel like such a struggle. The conclusion I see many jump to in those moments is that ´ I´m not effective enough´ or ´not productive enough,´ so something must be wrong with me. But the truth is their approach just needed some strategic adjustments - one that is aligned with their natural system instead of fighting with it. So, if you find yourself having one of those days, remember that this isn't about you as a person but rather an approach that might not be fit for purpose.

Now over to you

What challenging task are you facing today? 

Try applying just one of these principles and notice how it changes your experience of effort.