What To Do When Willpower Won’t Work

TRANSCRIPT

TRANSCRIPT AUTOMATICALLY GENERATED Hey, Hey, this week, I'm going to teach you a strategy that I use when I need to get stuff done in my business that I'm having maybe some resistance to, right? We've all heard that. If you need to get something done, you have to put it in your calendar. You have to put a time there for it. And then that's how we get it done. You know, for me that doesn't work. There are a lot of other things that I can be doing and that all are exciting and interesting when that time appears on my calendar. So putting it on my calendar yes. As a first step, but then it still requires me to use like what knuckle willpower to get myself to do the thing when that time comes around. And I can tell you that this has been an issue for me. Since university, I was the person who had the detailed, planned out. Color-coded study timetable to make sure I could fit in all of my, study needed for my exams, that would, they need to get redone and recalibrated. When I decided that instead of studying economics, I was going to tidy my closet or whatever other excuse I found at that particular moment in time. And I know I'm not alone in this So still trying to apply that particular principle just seems kind of silly to me. So instead, what I want to talk to you about is business dates. I know we talk a lot about dating as a metaphor for how we build relationships with clients. But what I'm talking about here is more putting time in your calendar, not just to do the thing, but to add somebody else into that mix. So let's think of some examples. If I'm desperately trying to get something done I might be doing co-working once a week because I know that I'm going to show up as a person on the other side of the camera. I can't then decide to go and give myself a manicure in that moment because somebody else is showing up. If I'm doing something that's incredibly boring, I'll often turn this kind of coworking into a Pomodoro session. So we're working really hard for 25 minutes and then having a break for five minutes. I'm using it as an accountability tool. So I'm saying to the person that I'm co-working with, Hey, I'm going to do this in the next half hour, knowing that they're then going to ask me in 25 minutes, if I did it. That helps give me that accountability. That is a motivator for me when willpower to just do the thing isn't really working. As a kind of business dates, you can have all brainstorming or masterminding type dates. This is when you're trying to solve a problem, we'll solve a challenge. Often when we're faced with something new, we can want to avoid it. We can have a bit of. Either resistance to the actual process or resistance the results, or just feel like we can't get started because we don't know how. And so having a specific time in your diary with somebody else to just talk it through, how many times have you done that way? You've been trying to work through a problem and then you talk it through with someone and the solution is so obvious to you before they've even said a word, right? That's what I'm using the brainstorming or mastermind and kind of dates for. the other place that this works really, really well, especially for those of you who detest your bookkeeping to taste the numbers side of your business and getting that stuff done or that stuff ready is to have a regular money date with a biz bestie. And this works really well in your personal life as well. If you need to be looking at your personal budget, But having that moment where you have to show up and the other person is also doing the same task so that you can empathize with each other and you feel as not so alone doing this thing that you really don't like to do. I find that money dates it keeps you looking at your numbers at your figures far more regularly than if you are trying to do it on your own. So we add the fact that we are not great at willpower as a human species plus something we really, really don't want to do that also holds a whole bunch of emotional baggage for us. That money date can just make it seem a bit more of a fun experience. I don't think it's ever going to be completely fun for everyone. But it is going to just up that level of enjoyment, maybe you celebrate at the end of the money date with a glass of wine or a chocolate or a 30 minute catch-up chat to just reward yourself for getting through it. Win-win situation, because both of you get through admin that you didn't want to get through. Both of you can brainstorm with the other, both of you can finally get consistent looking at your figures, looking at your bank balance. So it's a win-win and you don't have to have the same person for every single one of these. You could have somebody that you brainstorm with and you could have somebody that you have the money date with. They don't have to be the same person and it's not like an every week kind of thing. But what I'm suggesting is yes, what gets scheduled is what gets done. Assuming you have the willpower to do it when it's time to do it. And if you don't adding an external level of accountability is going to push you over the edge and help you actually get it done.


Simply scheduling a task won’t get it done without a hefty dose of willpower when the time comes. Try this instead.

Key Takeaway

Add some external accountability to help boost your willpower to get through the things that need doing.

In This Episode

  • Why scheduling a task is not enough
  • How to set up business dates instead
  • What does it look like in practice