Sometimes your days are just filled with things you don’t want to do. Work, most often, can be one of them. Not everyone likes his or her job but you do it anyway. If you’ve ever been unemployed for a longer period than you’re probably quite happy you have a job to begin with. It can still be a drag though. What I’ve noticed lately, is how people deal with this.

Whatever it is that you spend the most time on during a week, it is likely that you’re not always up for it. Sometimes all you want to do is not go or ‘to not deal with it’. It happens to everyone. Now I’ve noticed people (including myself) saying that and nine out of ten times it all went alright and people weren’t too bothered once they actually started. You know, the “Ah it’s not that bad once I start and get in a flow.” or “When I’m actually there it’s not too bad.” comments. It’s just the thought of having to spend eight or how many hours at a place you don’t necessarily want to be. That can’t be the spirit, can it? I started doing the same, and I’ve realised what helps me to get through things sometimes.

Think of things that you do enjoy at the place you ‘don’t want to be’. For example let’s take an office job: you are not looking forward to the work, but you get another chance to hang out with colleagues or to chat to your office crush. Perhaps you can turn on that sweet tune and get the mundane tasks out of the way so you have extra for lunch, it’s sunny out after all. You can plan this or impulsively decide, but you can do it throughout the day. It’s mainly a way to motivate yourself to do the things you have to do, but don’t necessarily enjoy doing.

Reflecting at the end of a day is equally important. Knowing you’ve done a lot that day gives you a feeling of fulfillment, knowing you haven’t done enough should be your drive for the next day.

You need things to look forward to. Everyone has this, but do you contemplate it enough to make a big enough impact? Look forward to the fact you’re going to meet your friends coming Friday, and think about it often. Use this as your drive for hard work. You don’t want to get to Friday and realise you’ve don’t diddly squat all week. You want to be happy with what you’ve done and accomplished that week, right? Don’t underestimate that sense of fulfillment. In my case, it relieves stress and makes me feel better and makes me overall more fun to be around.

So this is what helps me on a daily and weekly basis. You can go as far as you want. I’m already looking forward to the next summer holiday, swimming on Wednesdays or visiting friends abroad sometime next year. It gives me an extra boost. I mostly think only a couple months ahead. For instance a concert I’m going to in November. I don’t think about it too often, but when I do it gives me energy and makes me happy. This is what gets me through mundane tasks, and I find I do them with a more content feeling. It’s like I realise I know that what I am doing has to be done to get to a certain desirable point.

Finally, here’s something I heard my friend say:
       “I never watch the news in the morning anymore, I just check it somewhere later in the day. It’s too much negativity to start the day with. I just watch music videos or something over breakfast now, and I bike to work with a smile on my face.”

Makes sense doesn’t it? Don’t get me wrong, I believe the news is very important but so do most people. That doesn’t make this statement any more true or false.  I’ve tried it, it works.

More on this in the next post “Rule #32: Enjoy the little things.”