Psychotactics Blog

---

Everybody starts off with a plan, but shortly after that plan turns to custard.

We should be able to realign ourselves and restart, but restarting seems to be extremely difficult. Which is the quickest way to get back on course?

That’s what we’ll find out in this episode.

Right click to save this episode.

---

Back in the 1980s, a program on BBC radio checked if myths lived up to scrutiny.

One of those myths involved the suicide rate in Sweden. During that decade, the social system of Sweden was said to cause the phenomenal rate of people killing themselves. As it turned out, the myth was indeed a myth.

The country's suicide rate was below France, Spain, Belgium, Austria, Japan, Denmark, Switzerland and Germany. And just above the USA. Yet, the myth caught hold and persisted to this day.

A myth doesn't need to make sense to succeed. If it's good enough, it will continue to bounce around as if it were true. And while this myth surfaced in politics, there are just as crazy myths in business.

One of those myths can be rooted in the concept of “it doesn't matter how hard you fall, it's how quickly you bounce back, that matters.” In reality, few of us bounce back quickly. Instead, we are blown so much off course that it may take us weeks or months to get to our last known position.

This chaos may be entirely unintended because of some personal issues. Still, it can also be due to simple procrastination or even taking a break and finding that it's hard to get motivated to restart.

Everyone has their method of getting back on the saddle. Here are some of the techniques I've used over the years.

1- Tiny one-liner scripts that you can run in your head.
2- Getting to the end of a tiny goal
3- Have a rule in place.

---

1- Tiny one-liner scripts that you can run in your head.

If you were to ask most of my clients what time I wake up in the morning, the answer would be unanimous and entirely accurate.

Even so, it's a myth to think that I bounce out of bed everyday and race to the office. That's because I'm up and at work at 4 am, every workday. And clients who are on live courses have often used this knowledge to their advantage, posting their work just before 4 am so that I can see their work the moment I'm up.

For instance, earlier in this year, I slept badly for almost two months straight

I'd sleep early, avoid reading on the iPad late at night, and even stopped having coffee after lunch. It made little or no difference. I'd wake up feeling I'd been in a fight, groggy and slightly unfocused. Without exception, I'd have a nagging baby headache. Not the kind of headache that would send you right back to bed, but enough to wonder if there's something wrong.

And if it's not a weird sleep issue, it might just be the weather

It's cold; it's dark. I don't exactly feel like waking up and trudging to the office, which is situated next door. Even worse, when we first started our business, the office was almost a kilometre away, and I'd have to walk through the “cold” (well, it's just 8°C here in winter) and then get to a cold office before starting up my work.

In any case, we can't rely on how we feel that day to get going

If we're down in the dumps, the thought of bouncing back into the saddle is the furthest from our minds. In such a situation, we have to use a script. A tiny something that we know will work every single time. In my case, I have different scripts for varying situations.

When I struggle to get moving, I remember the lines I heard from author/speaker Brian Tracy. I'd just moved to New Zealand in 2000. Life wasn't hard, but it certainly wasn't easy. I hadn't ever been to New Zealand before we moved here.

And we knew no one. It was at that point I started listening to audio for the first time. In one of those audios, Brian Tracy said the following: “Successful people hate doing the same thing unsuccessful people hate doing. But they do it anyway”.

I'm sure he said a lot of other stuff because I collected a box of his audiobooks, tapes, CDs, and videos over the years. But instead of that mountain of advice, I've chosen to run a single, simple script. When I'm struggling to get going, I simply say it in my head.

It's still cold. It's still dark. I'm still groggy. I get up anyway and get to the office.

Well, that's the first piece of advice.

Get yourself a script. Borrow mine, if you like, because you're sure to need it as we go to the second part of this article. Namely, instead of trying to do it all, you sidestep the overwhelm. Instead, you become a bit of a nutter trying to get to the finish line as quickly as you can.

---

2- Getting to the end of a “let's do rubbish” goal

On average, I will draw about two-three cartoons a day. I'll draw one in watercolour in my Moleskine diary, and then, later, when watching Netflix, I'll draw a couple more on the iPad.

Which sounds productive until you realise I hadn't done a single cartoon on the iPad for all of this year. And had skipped three whole months of watercolours.

The worst part about this kind of situation is that there's no incentive to get restarted

People around you tend to be very supportive. Hence, if you were to tell them that you're not going very far, they suggest you relax or that you'll get to where you want to go, eventually.

Yet, with every passing day, you're aware that their good nature is not helping you at all. Worse still, there's no urgency or deadline. The project may be necessary but not crucial.

In such a situation, you not only fail to make progress but engage in avoidance tactics

You're so far behind that it's easier to do nothing than getting started. This is why you need to set a “let's do some rubbish” goal. In my situation, I force myself to sit down to draw and paint just about anything. Or to write about anything.

My wife, Renuka, will look at it and may say nothing, but I know she thinks the work is pretty bad. What she also knows is that once I've turned out the “rubbish” stuff, I'll get the next thing done and the next, and suddenly, I'm back to producing relatively decent work.

No matter what your project, the moment you stall, you feel like you'll never get started again

And most of us struggle to get back, partially because we feel that we need to hit a perfect note to get started. The reality is that we're rusty, and doing some rubbish seems counterintuitive, even counterproductive. Yet, it's what gets us restarted.

More importantly, it gets us to the end

When we complete something, we've moved from doing nothing to doing something no matter how average. Getting to the end of that small goal, that next page gets us moving. Best of all, you can always go back and erase the rubbish stuff.

For instance, yesterday, I got out the glue and stuck a horrendous couple of pages. With my articles, I might go back and delete the terrible paragraphs. With just about any project, you can erase your tracks if you want.

However, the psychological need has been met

You've reached the end, and that prompts you to take the next step and the next. Which is what gets you back on track again. It's a slog, for sure. You don't want to turn out shoddy work. Even so, could you do it? Get to the end of it, and you'll see how it propels you forward.

And finally, there's the shortcut of rules. We all think about habits and motivation. Which is all very fine; rules are superior. Once you're ready to get back on track, you have to set some rules. Here's how you go about getting rules to work for you.

---

3- Have a rule in place.

When we go for a walk, we run into an 75-year-old named Eddie. And Eddie has a rule.

The rule is: If it's not raining, I'm going for a walk. See how uncomplex that rule happens to be? If it's cold, windy or sunny, you can be sure that Eddie will be on the street. Rain? Well, he's at home sipping a hot tea.

Rules are what get us back on track because they are far superior to habits. A rule doesn't need any thought because it's what you're going to do, no matter what.

Hence, when I stop drawing for a few months, I have to restart by creating a rule. The rule looks like this: You have to sit down every day after breakfast and open your diary.

Notice that the rule isn't as stringent as Eddie's?

Eddie is still going for a walk. My rule doesn't call upon me to draw, paint or even sketch. All it requires me to do is sit down and open my book. The rule can stop short of the activity. It can just be enough to get you to the spot, and that gets you off the hook.

We all know what happens next, though. If you do sit down and open your book, you're going to do something. It might be just a bad drawing, but it's going to get done. And because you and I are not as disciplined as Eddie, there will be days when we sit down, open the book and do nothing.

Most of us have many projects going at once

Usually, by the time we're finished with a project, we've lost all steam. Or maybe you've been on a break and can't get yourself to restart. That's when a rule is most likely to come to your rescue.

Even with rules, life gets in the way

We don't lead isolated lives. We may decide to do something, and a family member will want our attention. They may want to go for a walk or need to talk about the news. In any case, your rule is now likely to run into a fair bit of trouble.

The good part about these disturbances is that they're relatively predictable. For instance, while I'm learning something on a video course, I have my earphones on. When Renuka shows up, I can't hear her and have to take them off.

She's conscious that she's disturbing me, but I'm also aware that we can't shut off the rest of the family while we go about doing stuff. Hence, whenever Renuka is around, I have a earphone in my right ear. If she says something, I can quickly respond and then go back to whatever I was doing.

There are times when no disturbance is just as crucial

When I'm writing something, I need to think about the lines in my head. The rule may help me get to the computer or to my diary, but if someone disturbs me, it's hard to get the momentum back. Hence, I have to work out situations when the person is improbable to get in my way.

You'll know when family members get busy with their activities. That's when your rule needs to kick in for things you can't be disturbed. At all other times, you can easily manage with a fair bit of disturbance, and your rules need to consider each scenario.

Having a few rules also help. You don't want to conquer the world yet. You want to get started on a few projects that have fallen by the wayside. Make a few rules, and you'll be on your way.

In summary:

1- Tiny one-liner scripts that you can run in your head.
2- Getting to the end of a tiny goal
3- Have a rule in place.