How to Use Your Imagination as a Tool to Regain Motivation

How the future is a helpful way to tackle the present

Some of us choose the most arduous tasks on our to-do lists first to get them out of the way, savouring the easiest item for last, like the best bite of a meal. Other’s pick the low-hanging fruit or go for the most enjoyable activity first and move their way down the line, saying “I’ll get to that” when they know they never will.

The problem with avoiding boring tasks is that the likelihood of following through on it plummets. Whether we avoid something because we’re afraid, because we don’t feel like it, or because it’s too hard, we’re not doing ourselves any favours by leaving it to the last second.

But sometimes, the challenges we face aren’t optional. We will encounter something that we can’t just kick under the rug and forget about until we one day stumble over it. Unexpected things happen all the time, and how we deal with them is crucial to the amount of stress and unhappiness we put ourselves through.

The best way to get through something strenuous and mentally exhausting is to shift our focus. And I don’t mean distracting ourselves with a catchy playlist or an attention-grabbing audiobook.

If we will our minds to visualise what happens after we’ve completed something, whether that’s imagining what it feels like to sleep in a clean bedroom or to have the weight of an awkward conversation lifted off our shoulders, it will become a lot easier to regain the motivation to do it.

Last year, I had to make an impromptu visit to the dentist. As someone who likes sticking to the routines of my daily life, a two-hour notice before heading to the dentist for a cracked tooth was something that caused my anxiety to flare up.

The only thing that kept me from having a full-blown panic attack before leaving, with the anticipation of what was to come, was having something to look forward to.

And I don’t mean a big, long-lasting life goal, but rather what would come out of it. It was the knowledge that in three hours, I would be back on my couch, with my dog…

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