It is very tempting to procrastinate, isn’t it? Coming off the end of a long and exhausting day, seeing the amount of chores that need to be sorted out, dreading the prospect of actually doing these tedious and menial tasks etc; these are all common and understandable reasons for why many of us (myself definitely included) tend to put things aside and not deal with them until absolutely necessary, which often leads to last minute panicking. It is indeed very difficult to pick ourselves up and confront the many very complex and tedious issues/tasks in our lives, and there may be no secret lifehack for beating our tendencies to procrastinate apart from just pure and sheer mental determination, the fact that one simply has to just pick oneself up and force oneself to do whatever needs to be done even when every single ounce of one’s energy is negatively pitted against one’s will. I have mentioned before the power and effectiveness of starting slow, which has certainly helped me in the past to make a start on those long-dreaded tasks, not through a quick and speedy attempt to get them done and dusted as quickly as possible but slow and laborious churning of every small detail until my body gets used to the task at hand and is then allowed to move at full speed. The way I think of my body is a juggernaut, not because I am physically large (!), but because it sometimes does feel like I am dragging a tow with a massive load just when I am getting my engines started, but when it finally gets going, this beast of a load gradually works in my favour as it becomes a gigantic force that powers me through all obstacles and will not stop until all the tasks in front of me is done and dusted. Psychologists have a name for this state of mind when one’s efficiency is at its optimal best, which is termed by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi as ‘Flow’. Seen from the outset, engaging with a task always seems difficult, but once one gets into it which may take a lot of mental effort and a significant amount of time before one finds one’s Flow, one’s efficiency increases dramatically to the point where one’s self-confidence can power one through any difficulty that lies ahead. A Juggernaut, albeit not one of my favourite X-Men characters, may be unmovable when static, but once it gets going through whatever magic force is necessary to get him moving, it becomes unstoppable. This is how I think of it nowadays. Difficulties may be dragging us down, but if we pull them into the right direction and make them work on our side, they may become the secret ingredients for success. Don’t give up.