I’ve noticed a behavior in both my professional life and with my kids doing their homework: people spend a lot of time on things they don’t like.
Many years ago, I had that realization about myself. For some things I didn’t like doing, I’d procrastinate, complain, but ultimately ended up having to be engaged with that task over a long period of time. During that time, the stress of the task kept hanging over me.
I decided to do a deal with myself: I’d set up a short but reasonable time to do the task and during that time I’d do the best I could. At the end, I’d be done. Back then, I didn’t know about the #pomodoro method, which can actually be used in a similar way.
After that, the “dwell time” of tasks that annoyed me dropped sharply: once I booked the time, the task was mostly out of my mind. Once I finished the allocated time, I’d be in peace. Things that used to annoy me for a week became things that bothered me for an hour.
I even started to like some of the tasks I thought I wouldn’t. Getting started is half the battle.
I still couldn’t convince my kids.