Finish: Give Yourself the Gift of Done pdfdrive com

Kale Isn’t Fun
What if the goal you want to accomplish isn’t naturally fun?
Losing weight isn’t inherently fun.
It’s not.
Feeling like you’re going to throw up because you’re on a treadmill isn’t
fun.
Stumbling through exercises you don’t really know yet isn’t fun.
Getting up early isn’t fun.
Syrupy positive books that tell you otherwise are dumb.
But keep in mind that the shortcut isn’t “find something fun”; the shortcut is
“make it fun if you want it done.” There’s action involved in that. You have to
do the work of making it fun. How?
Ask this question: “How could this goal be more fun?”
Crazy, right? I know. I’m a visionary.
Most of us don’t add fun to our goals. Have you ever asked that question
about any goal you’ve ever undertaken? At work, did a boss lay out the strategy
for the third quarter and then say, “Bear in mind, this has to be fun!” If you’ve
ever made a New Year’s resolution, did you make sure it was fun? Was that a
prerequisite? Was that something you planned for?
Fun isn’t part of the language we use when it comes to hard work, hustle, or
discipline. But this is another example of going on offense against perfectionism.
If we can short-circuit its wires by saying fun is actually important, we are more
likely to finish the task.

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Jeremy Cowart found a way to make his goal fun when he started Help-
Portrait. Cowart, a widely successful photographer, wanted to “give back.”
That’s a pretty popular goal and most people don’t think it can be fun. They
instantly think, “I have to build a house for someone, paint a rec center, or serve
soup downtown.” We never start our volunteer work by saying, “What’s
something I really enjoy doing that I could use to serve someone?” And more
often than not, we give up on giving back.
Cowart made fun a priority. After a decade shooting people like Taylor Swift
and Garth Brooks, he knew the power of a well-taken photo. He knew the
confidence and joy that comes from seeing yourself all made up for a portrait.
He also knew that if he loved the project enough, he would keep going. He
started offering free portraits at a special event held every year at hundreds of
locations around the world. People get their makeup done for free, sit for a six-
figure photographer, and many times walk away with the only portrait they’ve
ever had taken.
To date, Help-Portrait has taken more than half a million photos.
You know what Jeremy doesn’t do? He doesn’t swing a hammer or a paint
roller. Why? He’s not good at it, but more than that, it’s not fun to him. And he
knows that the more joy he feels, the longer he’ll work at something that helps
other people.
It’s easy to find the fun in his story. What if you don’t know how to make
something fun? Where do you begin? There are two places.