每天用英文写点东西Day2：Ella给我上的人生课(1)

Topic1: How to do something difficult when you feel like not doing it.

Tip1: Build a new identity first or find one that you aspire to. It’s easier to say no than yes to something challenging to your traditional mind. Ella explained it with her example of studying English. Most people tend to spend their time on picking online courses, English textbook without thinking about their goals for once. She imagined she were a native speaker and read what the real native speakers at her age read. So in this way, she said, ironically that makes her journey a lot easier, because she's not so hung up on the everyday struggles, thinking about why she should do these unnecessary things, but try to embrace this new identity and get used to it.

Tip2: Reduce it to the ridiculous. Start with easy tasks. Ella made her struggling with exercise as an example. Before she signed up for an exercise boot camp, she was going to a gym and going on the elliptical machine for five minutes everyday. So gradually, she get herself used to the atmosphere of gym and the workout lingo. When we didn't know when to start and how to start working out, we can literally just go for a walk and build up a lifestyle for ourselves.

Tip3: Join a tribe of like-minded people who have a similar experience and way ahead of you. Sometimes, we just lack self-control and willpower to complete something, resorting to other's help is really effective.

Tip4: Take the thinking out of it. The more we hesitate, the more challenging we move through the day. Pondering and preparing should not happen at the moment we are about to do what should be done. Set up for the success the day before, just so we will not find ourselves waiting and hesitating the next day.

Tip5: Take advantage of momentum. The change usually starts off with something makes ourselves inspired and motivated to do that one difficult thing. "It takes less effort than if you just sit there and fixate on how difficult it is."