Dread Sprints

Are you waiting to feel better before you do the thing?

The phone call. The workout. The administrative work. The video you need to record.

You think about it, feel dread, and put it off. Then you think about it again, feel dread again, and put it off again.

You have not avoided the feeling. You have extended it.

I want to teach you a different approach: a dread sprint.

Instead of trying to eliminate dread before you act, you befriend it, take it with you, and get the work done.

Successful people feel dread, too

There is a misconception that people who are successful and getting a lot done are delighted all the time.

If I am any indication, that is not true.

I experience dread when I do new and harder things. I do not enjoy every activity before I begin it.

The difference may not be that someone else feels better than you. It may be that they do the thing they dread while you wait to stop dreading it.

Consider how much could change if dread no longer had to decide what you did.

The feeling comes from your thinking

Dread is an emotion. It can include apprehension, fear, reluctance, and heaviness.

It is created by your thoughts about the activity.

Maybe you dread going to the gym, learning the technical work for a funnel, speaking publicly, or recording yourself.

Knowing that thoughts create the feeling gives you the option to work on those thoughts.

You can try to generate excitement or inspiration before beginning.

But I have found that the bigger my goals become, the more time I could spend doing thought work to remove dread.

Sometimes I could finish the task in the time I spend trying to feel differently about it.

Befriend it instead of fighting it

A dread sprint means willingly experiencing dread for the time it takes to do the work.

You do not push it away or pretend it is not there. You acknowledge it and bring it along.

You can think of dread as an efficient friend who sometimes gets on your nerves.

You would rather not have the feeling, but you can still work with it.

Maybe dread is with you for the whole phone call. Maybe it comes to the gym. Maybe it stays while you create the webpage.

That does not mean the activity must stop.

Befriending dread changes your relationship with it. You can have authority over what you do instead of letting the emotion prevent you from acting.

Move toward the work now

The sprint part matters.

When you notice dread about something you need to do, do the work now and as quickly as you can.

Do not spend extra time making excuses, complaining, belaboring it, or trying to get out of it.

The purpose is not merely to become good at having dread. It is to become good at experiencing it for a shorter time while completing what needs to be done.

When you finish, you get the accomplishment. You get the pride and the reward of having done it.

You also get practice befriending the feeling that used to keep you from beginning.

Notice the cost of the dread marathon

Imagine deciding to start a way of eating that supports your goal.

Your brain suggests tomorrow, next week, or next month.

Now the task is still in front of you, and dread can keep appearing every time you remember it.

You could experience dread while starting now. Instead, you are carrying it through the delay and will still need to start later.

That is the dread marathon.

If you had to choose between experiencing the dread in a shorter sprint or spreading it out in a slow trickle, which would you choose?

Many of us would choose the sprint if asked. But through procrastination, we unconsciously choose the marathon.

The same free time can feel different

Suppose you plan to work out today.

In the morning, you decide to do it in the afternoon. In the afternoon, you decide to do it in the evening.

All day, you are not working out. But your relief is mixed with knowing the workout is still ahead.

Compare that with doing the workout in the morning.

You would still spend most of the day not working out. But that time would come after completion rather than before it.

There is a difference between enjoying not doing something because it is finished and temporarily avoiding something you still need to do.

I find the rest of the day much more enjoyable after the dread sprint.

Connect the discomfort with the reward

When I move toward the task I dread, I shorten the time I spend anticipating it.

Afterward, I get the reward of accomplishment.

Connecting those experiences helps me become more willing to move toward dread next time.

I know I can complete the work. I also know I will get better at acting with the feeling present.

That second accomplishment matters. I am developing a skill I can use with the next task, not only getting this task out of the way.

Expect some dreadful work in a big life

Big goals can include delayed gratification, learning new things, risking rejection, solving difficult problems, and doing tedious work.

It makes sense that you will have thoughts about those activities that create dread.

When I talk about this, I use roughly 30 percent as an indicator for how much of the work may feel dreadful, depending on the size of your goals.

I am not expecting every part of life to be an activity I immediately want to do.

If it seems like almost everything is dreadful, notice whether you have built a stack of unfinished tasks by postponing them.

Prolonging the work can make the feeling occupy far more of your life.

Do not make easier a requirement

How can I make this easier? How can I make it simpler or more enjoyable?

Those can be useful questions.

But they become a problem if you require an answer before you take action.

You may be using the search for ease to postpone something you have already decided to do.

You do not have to make your whole life happy before moving forward. You can let discomfort be part of the process of creating what you want.

I often talk about discomfort as the currency of your dreams. Dread is one form of that discomfort.

Try a dread sprint

Notice a task you have been putting off because of how you feel about it.

Recognize the emotion. Acknowledge it without making its disappearance the goal.

Take dread with you and do the work now.

Then notice both accomplishments: you finished the task, and you practiced acting without waiting for a different emotion.

How many dread sprints could you do today or this week?

You can stop letting dread become a wall between you and the things you want. Befriend it, do the sprint, and enjoy the time after the work is done.