5 Ways To Trick Your Brain Into Craving Doing Hard Things (No Willpower, No BS)

You know what you should be doing.

You know that if you sat down and focused, you could finally:

post content consistently,

complete that project,

launch that product,

and scale your business.

You know if you gave up the bad habits and stuck to the good ones, you could:

wake up early feeling energised,

spend more time with loved ones,

get 7-9 hours of sleep consistently,

go to the gym and build your dream body,

and set clear boundaries to protect your peace.

But instead, you avoid those hard things and procrastinate.

Then you find yourself stuck in an endless loop:

Scrolling social media because you have writer’s block.

Snoozing your alarm and staying in bed because it’s too cold.

Watching another self-improvement video before you take action.

Answering emails and tweaking your Notion setup but avoiding deep work.

Sweeping the conversation under the rug because it’s “not that big of a deal.”

Every time you choose comfort over challenge, you reinforce the belief that you’re not the kind of person who does hard things.

Even though you know that avoiding the hard things doesn’t make life easier.

It makes it harder.

It keeps you from the life you truly want.

What if you could change that?

What if you could rewire your brain to crave doing hard things instead?

Make it crave doing hard things the way it craves your favourite snack or scrolling TikTok?

How different would your life look?

How much closer would you be to living the life you want?

You’re Not Lazy or Unmotivated — Your Brain Resists Hard Work

Maybe you think you’re lazy and lack motivation or discipline.

Maybe you’ve tried so many things to make yourself do the hard things and failed every time.

Maybe you think your brain hates you and is working against you for some sick and twisted reason.

And it’s not your fault if you think that, but here’s the thing you didn’t know:

Your brain is efficient.

Your brain doesn’t hate you and you’re not lazy.

The brain is designed to minimise effort and maximise pleasure.

It will take the path of least resistance so that it can save energy for things that threaten its survival.

(Yes, we still operate with the same brains our ancestors had millions of years ago).

The brain prioritises what feels good right now and avoids activities that are uncomfortable or difficult.

Because they require energy.

This is why you procrastinate.

This is why you avoid the gym.

This is why you avoid sending those emails.

This is why you stay up later when you should be sleeping early.

This is why you struggle to build consistency in the habits that would transform your life.

Because to change your behaviours and habits, it takes a lot of energy.

Energy the brain doesn’t want to waste.

Consciously you know changing these habits and behaviours would benefit you in the long-term, but to the brain, they are too painful and require too much energy in the short-term.

This is the tale of delayed gratification vs. instant gratification.

And you’ll notice the lengths the brain goes to sway you into instant gratification.

The brain will build up resistance and negative emotions to these behaviours and activities.

Negative emotions are the easiest way for your brain to prevent you from doing a task.

It doesn’t have to deliver a long argument.

It doesn’t have to persuade you.

It just makes you feel bad.

And because you feel bad, you want to avoid the thing that’s making you feel bad.

So… you don’t do the activity.

This repeats itself over and over.

You try get yourself to do the activity or task.

The brain brings up negative emotions.

You feel bad and associate it with the activity or task.

You avoid it.

You feel worse because you didn’t do it.

You try again.

The brain makes you feel bad again.

You avoid it again.

And it’s a never-ending cycle of procrastination, disappointment and guilt.

But if you can break out of this cycle, the brain has another trick up its sleeve (or neural pathways):

Your self-image.

You Love Consistency — Even if You Don’t Know it

Remember how I said the brain loves efficiency?

It applies here too.

The brain loves efficiency and uses what’s called “consistency bias.”

This bias explains that we will act in ways that are consistent with who we think ourselves to be.

This means if you see yourself as someone who is a night owl, you’ll stay up late and wake up late.

If you see yourself as someone patient, you’ll wait and be calm in situations where others grow impatient.

But this is what keeps most people from doing the hard work and making the changes they want to make.

If you see yourself as someone who doesn’t work out, trying to go to the gym and eat healthy will be hard.

These are the things someone who works out does and you aren’t that type of person, so you’ll feel resistance to doing them because they go against your self-image.

If you see yourself as someone lazy, sending out emails and creating content will be hard because that’s not what a lazy person does.

Most people think discipline, consistency or doing hard work is about willpower or self-control.

It’s not.

It’s about understanding how your brain works.

Now with this understanding, we can train your brain to work for you and crave doing the hard things.

5 Ways to Train Your Brain to Crave Doing Hard Things

Step 1: Rewire Your Identity (The “I Am” Shift)

Your actions will always align with your self-image.

Most people say, “I need to work hard.”

Instead, say:

• “I am the type of person who does hard things with ease.”

• “I’m the type of person who faces and thrives in challenges.”

• “I’m the type of person who pushes myself beyond my limits.”

By repeatedly affirming this identity, your brain will seek out ways to prove it true.

You’re using the consistency bias to align with who you want to be.

And the more you see yourself as this type of person, you’ll start taking the type of actions this person takes with less resistance and more ease.

Step 2: Trick Your Brain with the “Instant Gratification Hack”

Your brain avoids hard things because it doesn’t get an immediate reward.

So beat it at it’s own game:

Attach instant pleasure to the hard work itself.

Here’s how:

• Micro-rewards: Pair the task with something enjoyable (e.g., a special playlist you only listen to while working).

• Turn work into a game: Use streaks, set micro-challenges, and create rewards for yourself like you would in a video game.

• Celebrate the Small Wins: After completing a difficult task, celebrate—physically pump your fist, say a kind word to yourself or do something that creates a rush of positive emotion.

This conditions your brain to associate hard work with pleasure rather than pain.

Step 3: Use “If-Then” Systems

Most people fail because they rely on motivation.

Instead, use If-Then Systems:

• If I do 30 minutes of work, then I can scroll on social media.

• If my alarm goes off, then I immediately start my morning routine.

• If I feel like procrastinating, then I set a 5-minute timer and start small.

By creating automatic responses to common obstacles, you remove decision fatigue and execute effortlessly.

Step 4: Overcome Resistance (The “Pain Is a Compass” Method)

Most people interpret resistance as a sign to stop.

High-performers see resistance as a compass—a direct signal pointing toward what they must do.

Whenever you feel procrastination creeping in, remind yourself: “The greater the resistance, that’s the thing I need to do.”

Then take action immediately.

Start small with something manageable.

The more you face the pain head-on, the less power it will have over you.

Step 5: Increase Your Capacity for Hard Work (The “Refine the Sword” Approach)

If you’ve never lifted weights, you don’t start with lifting a 30kg dumbbell.

You start with 6kg (or less) and build up.

Doing hard things works the same way.

Each week, do something slightly harder than the week before.

• If writing a page feels overwhelming, start with 100 words.

• If you struggle to focus for 20 minutes, start with 10 minutes.

• If waking up at 6 am is hard, wake up 15 minutes earlier from your current wake-up time.

Each small win builds momentum, and soon, the things that once felt impossible become your new normal.

When you implement one or more of these strategies, a lot can change:

• You stop struggling with procrastination.

• Hard things feel easier (and even enjoyable).

• You build consistency and momentum.

• You start executing at a level that most people only dream of.

This isn’t about forcing yourself to work harder or use an insane amount of willpower only to burn out down the line.

It’s about understanding how the brain works and using strategies that turn the cards in your favour.

By doing that you make it easier to do the hard things and the more you do the hard things, the easier and better your life will be.

Thank you for reading.

I hope it helped.

See you in the next one.

— Shana

p.s.

If you’re ready to overcome procrastination and make taking action easy while working less, click here.