Updated April 27, 2023
How to Perform The Hardest Task Easily?
The secret lies in being able to do the hardest task, the secret to making your mark as a professional. But it’s not easy, and that’s the problem. Even if you want to do it, you don’t have the slightest idea how you will make it tick.
In this article, we will bust the myth that the hardest task is the hardest. The truth is it is not. But actually, the hardest part of the hardest task is the way we approach it.
If you read this article, you will learn an important skill. You will be able to begin your day with the hardest task, and the rest of the day will be gravy. No matter what you do in your career, these ideas apply to all professions and all types of work.
In this article, we will first discuss the story of the ugliest frog. Then we will talk about why it seems the hardest task is the hardest. Finally, we will talk about how you can use some tricks to start with your hardest task first thing in the morning.
Just take a piece of paper and a pen to note what resonates with you.
Let’s begin.
The Story of the Ugliest Frog
As the job description has changed drastically in this twenty-first century, different job positions are being invented. This is the story of a person who has mastered eating the ugliest frog first thing in the morning (not exactly, though).
He is John, and he loves his work. But, he is in the same place as he was 5 years ago. He doesn’t have to do much work. And he gets paid well. But recently, his boss retired, and now he works under a new boss. His new boss is warm, but it is the hardest task to master.
John doesn’t like his boss. He thinks that his boss is pushing him too much. But still, John has never hated his boss.
One day as John is eating lunch, his boss calls him. After finishing his lunch, he rushes to the boss’s cabin. His boss tells him – “John, from tomorrow, you need to do one hardest task! And if you wish you can go home after doing that work. But there are few conditions.” John is happy. John thinks in his mind that now his workload has been reduced, and he needs to do just one thing in the morning.
John’s boss continues.
“The first condition is you can’t do anything else without completing that work. You can’t take a break even.”
John agrees.
“The second condition is you can’t delay on that work. Before lunch you need to complete the work.”
John grins, thinking he will be able to go home before lunch.
“The third condition is once you say yes to this task you can’t say no and I won’t tell you what the task is all about.”
John says – “I am ready to do the work but as you have promised you need to let me go home once I complete the task.”
Boss says – “Think again, John. You can’t say no once you say yes now.”
John thinks how hard it can be and says – “I will do it.”
John goes home happy and tells his wife all about it. John sleeps well at night, thinking that he will get more time with his family from now on.
The next day, John heads to the office. Boss calls him and sends him to a room. John sees that there is a table and a chair. On the table, there is a plate, and beside the plate, one fork and spoon are properly kept. A waiter comes along and asks John to sit on the chair. John doesn’t understand what’s going on! He asks the waiter – “What’s this all about?” The waiter smiles and says – “You will understand in a moment.”
John checks his wristwatch and waits impatiently. Suddenly he notices that the waiter is coming with a big plate, and on the plate, there is something strange-looking creature. The waiter serves the strange creature on John’s plate. John doesn’t understand and screams – “What’s this?” The waiter calmly says – “I did as I was told.”
John rushes to the boss’s cabin. He is furious. He screams – “You told me I must do the hardest task. And now you are asking me to eat that ugliest creature?” The boss smiles and says – “No. You don’t need to eat it. By the way, that strange looking creature is a frog.”
Boss continues – “I asked you to do it so you can understand the value of the hardest task. Usually, the hardest tasks are hardest, but not as difficult as eating the ugliest frog first thing in the morning.
“So, you must choose the hardest task of the day before doing anything else. And while doing the task, remember it’s not as difficult as eating the ugliest frog.
“Now get back to work.”
John thanks his boss, feels relieved that he doesn’t need to eat the ugliest thing, and gets back to work.
Every day he comes to the office and works on the hardest task of the day first thing in the morning.
And within a month, he has accomplished so much that his boss calls and congratulates him for his accomplishments and promises him a promotion next quarter.
“Hardest task is hardest” – Myth busted.
The above story is a metaphor for why the hardest task is not as difficult as we think. There are a few reasons why we feel to ignore or procrastinate on the hardest task –
- We think that this task will increase the feeling of pain instead of increasing the feeling of pleasure.
- We get overwhelmed by the size and bigness of the task. And thus, we put it off.
- We don’t believe that we can complete it.
- We think we cannot deal with the hardest task effectively.
If you pay heed, you will see the hardest task is easy when you easily approach it. You don’t need to get panicky or be overwhelmed. It is simply a task, maybe a bit prodigious. But wouldn’t you agree that if you compare the hardness of the hardest task to eating the ugliest frog in the morning, doing the hardest task is easier?
You would say that the hardest task is easy. Why? Because you are comparing it with something harder than it!
So, whenever you think that the hardest task you are about to do is the hardest, ask yourself – “Compared to what?” and then remember eating the ugliest frog in the morning.
This metaphor may seem silly, but it helps you clear your perspective about the morning’s hardest task.
Shift your mind, and you can handle the hardest task as John did. John learned how to shift his mind and produce results despite being astonished. You can do the same. If you can do one thing in your professional life to catapult your career to its next level, here’s the thing – your ability to do the hardest task first thing in the morning.
Now we will learn how.
How to do the hardest task first thing in the morning?
Many effective methods exist to do the hardest task first thing in the morning.
1. Ability to prioritize
Prioritizing means being able to recognize a task that is higher in importance. It doesn’t need to be something that is always the hardest task, but it should have more impact on the consequences than any other task. It is being found that managers, who are better at prioritizing, can create better results than those who are not good at prioritizing. But how would you prioritize? Here’s how –
- List out all the tasks you need to do that day.
- Select the top 3 with maximum impact.
- Cut off the rest from the list.
- Out of those 3 tasks, choose the one that has the maximum impact in the coming 3 months.
- Start working on it.
2. Chunk down
Trying to do the hardest task first thing in the morning is overwhelming. But what if you just need to do a tiny portion of it? Here’s how you can chunk down the hardest task into small portions –
- Look at the hardest task and estimate the time it takes to complete it. For example, let’s say it would take 6 hours to complete.
- Now let’s start chunking it down. Think that you need to take 100 steps to achieve it. The benefit of chunking down the hardest task into 100 steps is to ensure that the task is so smaller that you can’t give any excuse.
- If you divide the task into 100 steps, each step would be 3.6 minutes. Let’s make it 5 minutes. But don’t start working on it yet.
- Take a piece of paper and list the 100 steps. If you can’t divide the work task-wise, simply write step-1, step-2, and so on, and as you keep completing each step, tick it off.
- There is magic in ticking off. Once you tick off one step, you feel one step closer to your goal, and this enthusiasm will keep you going.
- Now start working on your first step.
3. Just start
After using all the techniques, it will never get done if you don’t start on your hardest task. You don’t need to worry about the whole task. Just tell yourself that you will do the first step of the task, and then you will be done. And you will see that once you start, you can accelerate to do more than just one step. And soon enough, you will be able to complete the whole task even in less than the time you thought it would take. Gather all your willpower just to start, and then you will see the magic. It is not only applicable to the hardest task but to any task you don’t feel like doing in your professional and personal life.
4. Make it easy to start.
The reason most people don’t start even on the single step is because there is resistance. Resistance is a fear of the unknown. If you are new to the task, you don’t know what the task is all about. So your mind creates a resistance mechanism to stop you from starting it. So you need to structure your pre-rituals so that starting on any task doesn’t feel hard enough. Follow the below steps –
- If you want to work on your report or a project, do your research before and keep all the materials handy to have everything in order before you start.
- Set your day’s work even before the day starts. The ideal time to decide which task you will work on is the day before. Just finish your day and decide what you will do the next day and arrange everything in order.
- Deconstruct the hardest task. Why do you feel resistant? Find that part of the task and see how to make it easy. Let’s take it as research for the report you need to write. The day before, research all the materials you need to write the report. Arrange the research materials in the proper order.
- Once you know you must start, tell yourself you will only write the first word. And that’s it. You will begin the hardest task first thing in the morning.
The story and the tricks we discussed here are tested and implemented repeatedly, and people have gotten tremendous benefits out of it. If you can master this one thing, you will be the most productive person you would know. Follow these simple steps and start working on the hardest task in the morning. You will see that catapulting your career to its next level is easier than you ever thought.
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