How do you "force" yourself to do something you dont want to do?

Do not over think. Just GO to the gym rather than dwell on going. Think of it as basic as taking a shower.

Habit changing for me is one day or even one minute at a time.

Sometimes one second at a time.

For breaking a habit it is a good idea to have a replacement action like gum chewing for a smoking replacement. But be sure the replacement is not another bad habit you will have to break later.

Super baby steps. Drive by the gym. When that gets to be old hat, park for 5 minutes in the parking lot. Then go in.

Whenever you are confronted with this kind of problem, just ask “what is the most change I can manage with little or no pain involved?” Strive for that level of change until you’re ready for the next level.

If and when you backslide, just make a mental note so that you are aware and then redirect your energy to the instructions above. Success breeds success, and your slow momentum in the beginning will increase of its own volition later.

Give yourself a reward for the new behavior. Just don’t pick a reward that is too expensive or too habit-forming.

Man Up

I continually tell myself what I’m trying to achieve by getting that thing done. I am also an extrovert, so I get my energy and encouragement from others.

I take that as a sign of confusion. So, I get clear whether I really want to do it or not, and then do it, or not.

I used to procrastinate a lot, here’s a trick I’ve learned:

actually accomplishing the task (let’s say organizing the garage) is going to take only a certain amount of time and energy (let’s say 4 hours)versus the amount of time and energy one might spend dreading the project and putting it off (weeks?)

Now if I could just apply the above principle to that basket of clean laundry…
nah, gotta keep some irony in my life!

I went to a camp where we did stuff like rock climbing, high ropes courses, and zip lines. To go on the zip line, you have to step off a platform when your about 100 ft in the air. It was really scary, but knowing it was going to fun, I could force myself to step off.

I lie to myself. Easy as that. If I am going into a meeting I tell myself over and over that the people I have to talk to are morons who can barely think, and that I am a genius. When I was trying to quit smoking I kept telling myself that everytime I bought cigarettes the people who were profiting from my death were secretly laughing over it. Sounds crazy, but it works. An elaborate way to describe “psyching yourself out”.