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Neural Foundry's avatar

The two minute trick is genuinely brillant for overcoming that initial resistance barrier. I've noticed that once I get past that first hurdle, my brain almost forgets why it was resistng in the first place. The ego protection angle is also somthing I hadn't fully considered before, but it makes so much sense. When we frame difficult tasks as experiments rather than tests of our abilities, we remove that identity threat entirely.

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Dr. Dominic Ng's avatar

Thanks I’m glad you found it useful!

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Sindy Cruz's avatar

Everything about this was spot on and helpful. Thank you :)

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Dr. Dominic Ng's avatar

No worries!!

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Csabi Berger's avatar

Such a needed conversion in this age of comfort.

Thank you for sharing, Dominic.

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Dr. Dominic Ng's avatar

Thanks so much!

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Dr Arif Hussenbux MBBS's avatar

another banger! great read

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Dr. Dominic Ng's avatar

Thanks!

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Karen O's avatar

I appreciate your reminder to break things down into tasks that are more manageable and reframing the way we think about accomplishing goals that we are working towards. Although I would say that my monotropic tendencies can help me to get a lot done, and have a natural preference to accomplish work/tasks in "batches," it can get me stuck in all or nothing mentalities that lead to episodic periods of overwhelm/analysis paralysis &/or burnout, where I feel unable to do anything. I would say that strategy 5 has become one of my go-to strategies when trying something new or navigating new spaces, as it takes a bit of the pressure off of having to do everything perfectly.

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Dr. Dominic Ng's avatar

Totally get you with the overwhelming feeling!

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Michelle Pahl's avatar

I found these very useful. I have used, “I’m just a beginner,” and “I am just experimenting,” before to great success. Not so much for ego reasons, but for myself, to help with perfectionism.

Thank you for the others.

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Dr. Dominic Ng's avatar

Thanks - I’m glad you found it useful!

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Rose's avatar

This was so helpful. Thanks.

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Dr. Dominic Ng's avatar

No worries! Glad it was useful

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Tanmay Borade's avatar

The two minute rule and doing the setup is really helpful. I have noticed when I feel lazy to go to badminton I just put on my sports wear and then I just go. The two minutes rule is really helpful it helps to overcome the initial resistance to start the task. The difficult part is always starting.

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Ali Robertson's avatar

Really appreciate these practical tips. I’ll be honest, as I was reading, I kept thinking, “Yes, this makes sense” but also “There’s no way I’m going to be able to follow through.” But your point about experimentation shifted something for me. It feels like a safer permission structure to try, fail, then try again.

Thanks for writing this.

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Shauna O's avatar

Thanks for this post! Super helpful tips! In particular, I find breaking large things up in to much smaller tasks makes me much more able to begin them. I tend to avoid large tasks in favor of smaller ones.

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Shirley | Identity Reframes's avatar

The ego-protection part hit hard—wild how resistance isn’t about the task, it’s about defending the story we tell ourselves and the ego.

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Gisela's avatar

Thank you, this was great! Helpful advice to pair something positive with a task so that your brain makes a constructive association. I know this about training my dog (giving treats while he's seeing things that trigger his reactivity), but how come I don't seem to know how to do this for myself? :)

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zineb zanat's avatar

This is rlly helpfull , evn if u amready know tht being able to read it organized nd simplified rlly helps

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