I hate pull-ups. Can’t stand them. My trainer is constantly putting them in my workouts, and I always avoid them.
There is a trick that gets me to do them though: “flossing one tooth.”
I learned this hack from James Clear’s excellent book Atomic Habits. He was having trouble sticking to a flossing routine and decided rather than flossing his whole set of teeth, he’d go and floss one single tooth.
In his telling, he would only actually allow himself to floss one tooth on day one and he’d try to build from there.
For me, once I get started on something my inner voice tells me “this isn’t so hard, don’t be a little bitch and quit right now.”
I’ll inevitably walk over to the pull-up bar with the intention of knocking out one pull-up, and manage to string together a solid set.
Flossing one tooth works for anything you find yourself procrastinating on.
Don’t want to do your taxes? No problem, just send one single document to your accountant and call it a day.
Have a shitload of thank you notes to write? Don’t stress about it, write one single note and put down the pen.
Starting is often the hard part. There’s a world of difference between flossing zero teeth and flossing one teeth. Even if you stop at one, you’ve booked a small win and have momentum on your side.
Next time you’re avoiding something on your to-do list, give it a try: floss one tooth.