How to Make Progress on (And Complete) Projects You Hate

Is there something you must do but hate doing?

For me, it’s cleaning my room. I’ve always hated it!

It was a source of conflict between me and my parents when I was a child. I won the hostel award for the messiest room in my first year of university. And now I’m in my fifties, I still hate tidying my room … sorry Jordan Peterson.

So, how can you make progress on (and complete) projects you hate?

1. Stop beating yourself up

You hate doing this. Don’t waste time denying it. Own your hate. Decide you’ll find a way. Then plan your attack.

2. Get tough

You don’t eat an elephant in a single bite. Rome wasn’t built in a day. Nor do we complete a hated project in our first attempt.

So be ruthless.

Break your project into tiny pieces that are so small, they seem ridiculous.

3. Embrace insignificance

Within the next hour, set a timer and do one tiny piece for 1 minute.

It’ll feel insignificant, but it’s long enough to cut through your excuses and resistance. While you may still hate doing it, 1 minute won’t kill you.

4. Celebrate and repeat

Acknowledge your progress. You’ve started something so simple, you can repeat it tomorrow. And the next day. And the next … until you’ve completed your project.

5. Adapt it

If you feel you’re not making enough progress doing 1 minute per day, then wait an hour and do another minute. This will double your daily progress.

Still not happy? Try doing 5 minutes each hour over 6 hours. That’ll give you 30 minutes per day.

6. Turn it into a game

Do you want to inject some fun into this process?

Flip a coin each time you’re about to do a tiny piece.

• Heads = 1 minute.
• Tails = 5 minutes.

This’ll give you the option of doing 1 or 5 minutes per day if you didn’t follow the previous step. Or 2–30 minutes if you did.

Just don’t get too carried away … remember you hate doing this thing.