Do you prefer cranberries or chocolates?
How often do you come across an article on the Internet about 10 tips to be more productive, or 7 ways to manage your boss, or the 3 fundamental keys to God knows what? Maybe it’s just me, but none of those work for me. Maybe it's because there are just too many of them. Maybe it's information overload. Maybe it's just like dieting—even though you really want to lose weight, you try something and it works once or twice, but for whatever reason you forget to keep doing it and then those pounds creep back in. And then you scratch your head and wonder why you can't lose weight.
So at the risk of joining the ranks of such "one weird trick" type of articles, I will toss my hat into the ring and share the one weird trick that's worked for me as far as making me more productive. And maybe this will work for you, maybe it won't—I can't make any guarantees. All I know is that it has worked for me and continues to work to this day. And I didn't get it from the Internet.
I wrote an article some time back about how our brains work. In my article, I talked about how our brains are the results of millions of years of evolution. Part of our brain is a very primitive "reptilian" brain called the limbic system, which controls our gut reactions to situations, the most famous of which is the "flight or flight" reaction. You could think of it as what powers our strongest drives—hunger, lust, jealousy, revenge, fear, all the emotions that make soap operas entertaining. Another part of our brain is the "human" part, the frontal cortex, which can handle complicated tasks that only human beings know how to do such as planning, reasoning, empathizing, gossiping, and other such tasks necessary to get along at the office.
When we need to do something infrequent, unpleasant, and brief, like visiting the dentist or the DMV, our human brain is quite capable of convincing us to do it. We can listen to logic and think about the negative consequences if we don't go to the dentist or renew our driver's license. We can muster the little bit of willpower necessary to drive to either and suffer the discomfort or the long lines. But in order for us to change our behavior to tackle unpleasant activities every day, we need something more than logic or willpower, because willpower is a finite resource and excuses will win out over logic every time. This is why most dieting tricks don't work, for example.
Our reptilian brain craves rewards and runs from suffering. Of course it really loveshuge rewards like fancy dinners or Black Fridays or massages, but it also likes smaller rewards, like when someone writes you a nice thank-you note. You could even say that the reward of cleaning the kitchen is a nice clean kitchen, or the reward of preparing for a big departmental talk is a pretty, professional-looking PowerPoint presentation. In other words, if we foresee that we'll receive some kind of reward, then we're more likely to do something. That's why my kids' pediatric dentist gives them toys after their cleaning.
So, if we could train our minds to focus on the rewards of doing something substantial, rather than the difficulty of doing it, then perhaps we will be more likely to do it. Then, instead of having to expend copious willpower or fighting our excuse-factory, we could work with our reptilian brain instead of against it. Yes, writing that annual self-evaluation might feel like pulling teeth, but the reward is—or at least can be—a clearer view of how your career is going, and information about what you need to work on to get to the next step. So, for example, envisioning a flattering or eye-opening (or both) end result of a self-evaluation might motivate you to finish one.
Which brings me to the subject of cranberries. If someone were to ask you what your favorite fruit was, you'd be a rare bird if you said cranberries. There are many fruits that are sweeter or more fragrant or more, well, tasty. Nobody would put cranberries into a blender with other fruits to make a smoothie. But in the right context, cranberries can be good, like in a juice (especially mixed with other fruits) or as a sauce (during Thanksgiving). But tart as they are, cranberries are an incredibly healthy food. So if I could learn to like them, I could improve my health.
Cranberries are like the rewards of hard work. When you acquire a taste for those rewards, it might motivate you more.
So the metaphor that I use is that cranberries are like the rewards of hard work. They may not be the tastiest fruits, but one can acquire a taste for them. And if one begins to savor them, then one might start looking forward to them. The same with hard work: if I can look forward to the end result of doing a good job, I would be more likely to do it.
With that idea in mind, I wrote a sticky note to myself and put it on my monitor. It is the only sticky note on my monitor, so I can see it every day. It says: "If you want to pursue greatness, learn to prefer cranberries instead of chocolates." When I see this sticky note every day, I'm reminded not to pick the easy work to do every time, and not to give in to "chocolates" or easy distractions (like reading articles on the Internet ;-) as a way to avoid doing the hard work.
This sticky note motivates me to tackle the hard stuff first thing in the morning every day. Because often, the most important thing may not be the easiest thing, and may not be enjoyable. It may not give you immediate gratification like replying to e-mails when people ask you favors or easy questions. But after you've worked on hard tasks, you can feel proud of yourself. You'll get closer to that elusive goal or to the top of that mountain. I've actually found that when I start doing the hard things first thing in the morning, I find that they weren't as hard as I thought they were, and before I know it, I've spent several hours working on a hard problem, and it's already lunchtime—but I want to keep working. I've lost track of time. I'm absorbed in my work. I even enjoy the hard work.
And so now, it has become my habit to always tackle the hardest thing first. If you start doing this every day, at the end of the day you'll feel pretty darn tired, and pretty damn productive. You'll be proud of having put in your best work. And then when that annual review comes, you might be surprised at how much more you were able to do just because you learned to prefer cranberries.
So start with the hard things first. Don't think about how hard they are. Think about how good you'll feel after you've worked on them. Get absorbed in the challenge of the work itself. Don't fight your reptilian brain. Use it to power yourself.
(Note: this article appeared originally on LinkedIn)