What to do when you don't feel like doing

At dawn, when you have trouble getting out of bed, tell yourself: 'I have to go to work — as a human being. What do I have to complain of, if I'm going to do what I was born for — the things I was brought into the world to do? Or is this what I was created for? To huddle under the blankets and stay warm?'
– Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

It's comforting to see that one of the biggest figures in history had to write this to help himself to get out of bed in the mornings.

I found out that whenever I struggle getting started with anything (getting started with my day when waking up, getting started with a project, or task, or answering that email I'm constantly putting off) it's because there's some internal dialogue that I need to have and I haven't paid attention to it.

Similarly to the questions that Marcus Aurelius asks himself in this quote, you should ask yourself why you're having a hard time getting started. Okay, you don't feel like doing it, but why?

• Are you afraid of failure?
• Maybe that email that you need to write feels like it's going to create some conflict with someone else, and it's why you're putting it off?
• Is that something in your life is blocking everything, and that you just need to give yourself the permission to deal with it, and then you'll be able to come back to the rest?

Have a conversation with yourself. Figure it out. And then start. Don't overthink it: count down from five.

5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Let's do it.

And please, try to enjoy the process. Life shouldn't be a sequence of things waiting to get done.

Thank you for reading 🙏