We’ve all been there. That moment, when the pressure builds up, the process breaks down and your mental calculations of the expected labour required, starts speeding up – you have to do that activity, task, job, meeting  that YOU JUST DON’T WANT TO. And well in most of the cases, our convenient jar of excuses comes to the rescue; but is avoidance really the strategy we should be employing? While some things are comfortably swept under the rug of excuses; sometimes we’re cleaning someone else’s home and they always check under the rug!
Life is great when we’re doing everything we want to. It really comes down to what we do when we don’t want to be doing something. Thanks to social media, we can actually take comfort in the fact that if we aren’t getting down to business, there’s someone on the internet avoiding an ‘unenjoyable’ task as well, and then the vicious cycle of avoidance is rewarded for absolutely no tangible work. The problem with running away, making excuses and hiding is that even negative patterns of behaviour that almost seem justified, can become habits without conscious effort. After all, the worst habits catch on without our attention and that’s why they’re the hardest to get rid off – they’re well within our comfort zones. When we’re presented with a task that requires us to get off this couch of oozing comfort, we’re quick to convince ourselves that staying put is more beneficial than sitting on the wooden chair. 
Now, everyone tells us to get out of our comfort zones. It’s really not that easy. Especially when you have zero motivation towards completing a task, every part of your body repels. Like when you come home after a long day of work, exhausted from all the screen time, the nosy colleagues and the complaining boss. You put down your heavy bag and stare at the empty fridge, to greet a bunch of vegetables you have less desire to cut than to actually eat. And then all you can imagine is the mess you’ll have to clean once you actually start cooking. So what happens automatically? You hate yourself, but you order in anyway. It’s the oozing couch of comfort after all, so what’s there to lose? Well, there’s got to be a way we can deal with this dilemma. 
In my opinion, to each their own. However, there are a few strategies I have found quite useful and I thought I’d share them with the hope that at least one could work for you. 


1. Foresight: You know yourself better than anyone. Create physical reminders of the excuses you will make and keep them handy so you can call yourself out in advance. For example, stick a note on your fridge saying, “Don’t be lazy, just cook.”
2. Compromise: Don’t be too hard on yourself – sometimes forcing yourself unnecessarily can lead to burn out and you don’t want that. Make a deal with yourself, to push yourself to a realistic limit and accept that it might not be your 100 percent. 
3. Stop the self-pity: There are enough people to pity, spare yourself. 
4. No action, No decision: There is no such thing as ‘can’t’ or ‘try’, you either do or you do not. 


Take some responsibility and go do that thing you don’t want to. 




n The author can be contacted on Instagram @sincerelysanah