Making What You Have To Do, More Enjoyable
Tony Robbins outlines 6 types of things that we can do and how to improve them and therefore improve the amount of joy in our lives.
1. We can do things that are good for us, good for others, and that we enjoy. (These are the best things we can do.)
2. We can do things that are good for us, good for others, and that we do not enjoy. (These can be improved to #1 status.)
3. We can do things that are good for us, not good for others, and that we enjoy.
4. We can do things that are not good for us, good for others, and that we enjoy.
5. We can do things that are not good for us, good for others, and that we do not enjoy.
6. We can do things that are not good for us, not good for others, and that we do not enjoy. (These are the worst things we can do.)
Tony Robbins says we should strive to do the things in category #1, and change our thoughts about category #2 so that those activities become a part of category #1. I agree. The more category #1 activities we do in life, the happier we will be and the more fulfilled we will feel. Category #2 activities are fine to do, but we are more motivated to do activities we enjoy, which is why we should find ways to turn category #2 activities into category #1 activities. (We can also simply make anything that is good for us more enjoyable by changing our thoughts and feelings.)
An example of category #1 might be a charity auction you attend, where you donate a reasonable amount of money to help others and you enjoy the party while you're there. An example of category #2 might be to exercise regularly, which would be good for you and others around you, since you'd be healthier and less stressed, but you don't enjoy exercising. Since exercising should naturally be an activity everyone enjoys, since our bodies are biologically designed to be active, it is either that you're doing a form of exercise that is too much for your body physically, or more likely, you just have negative thoughts associated with exercise.
You can change the physical way that you exercise so that you enjoy it (If you don't like walking, try swimming, for example), or you can simply change your attitude about exercising so that you enjoy it. Find a deeper meaning in the same exercise so that you now enjoy it. For example, if you normally go jogging outside and it feels like a chore, you don't enjoy it, decide what you want to think about while you go jogging. Maybe it will be your time to speak with God, or think about your children's happiness, or plan your next party, or even visualize having achieved a goal. All you have to do is change your thinking to something you enjoy and the activity will become enjoyable. And allow yourself one day to say "no I don't want to exercise today and I don't have to because I am meant to enjoy my life as much as possible!" Don't allow yourself more than one day though, unless you're sick, because you don't want to lose your good habit. If you still don't want to exercise 2 days in a row, on the second day just say, I'll do something really easy and fun and it will feel like a day off of exercising, but you will have kept the good habit intact. (Oprah, do you need to read this entry?)
You can do this for anything that you know is good for you but that you don't enjoy, whether it's cleaning your house, paying your bills, washing the car, going to the dentist, or anything else! Just focus on thoughts that make you happy while you do the activity that is good for you. And start out by deciding what you will think about before you begin the activity, so there's no pressure to think of something after you're already doing what you don't enjoy. And remember that simply by thinking about things that make you happy and feeling positive emotions, you will naturally attract more of those positive thoughts and emotions into your life.
