What would you say if I told you that your precious daily coffee drink is
actually all thanks to the fact that goats like to eat everything they see?

Well, I’m not lying – as mythology says that coffee was discovered by an
Ethiopian goat herder named Kaldi. Kaldi’s goats were apparently awesome and
loved to frolic with him in a field. After an especially intense frolic
session, Kaldi’s goats came across a peculiar red fruit (yes, coffee is actually
a fruit – the “bean” is the pit of the fruit), ate it (because goats eat
everything) and when they realized it was awesome Kaldi couldn’t help himself
and ate some too.

Kaldi and his goats

Though now we grind and drink coffee – Kaldi apparently needed none of that and
just straight up ate the coffee beans, because he was badass. Like Kaldi, I too
enjoy a grind-free life. Though I don’t drink or know a single thing about
coffee (which makes me a horrible Seattleite), whether it be in life or video
games – similarly to Kaldi I hate grinding and prefer to get my energy quick in
and all at once.

Luckily for me, I’ve actually figured out a neat little way to conquer the idea
of the ‘daily grind’ and give myself a shot of focus: make whatever I’m working
on harder. What? Is that surprising?! Well, let’s cover what I mean…

What do you mean by ‘make it harder’?
I mean literally make the process more challenging. My brain (like many
of ours, but mine in particular because supposedly my personality type is
damn near unable to even train into discipline) loves novelty and challenge.

I used to think I hated hard things, but then I joined some friends in
playing games on an extremely hard difficulty. Now, I didn’t love playing
so hard that it was demoralizing. But, amped up to a higher difficulty
level than “normal” literally forced me into a flow state.

When we extrapolate this lesson – added difficulty = easier flow – then we
can apply it to things outside of video games and see similar results. If
I’m getting bored with a workout, I can add an extra challenge which is
stimulating forces my mind to engage in the present. If I’m at work, I can
add a timer on the work I need to get done and force myself to complete it
in 3/4 or 1/2 the time I would normally alot.

Why would you do such a thing? Isn’t hard, bad?
As I said, I definitely used to think so – but this “difficulty triggers a
flow state” discovery I had is actually scientific. Flow is often triggered
when a task is difficult or complex, but not so difficult as to be “soul
crushing”

What happens is if you find the sweet spot (which is actually bigger than
yout think), your brain goes from being bored with a mundane task to being
forced to engage with the present moment due to the additional
difficulty/presure.

How do you make this work without adding ‘soul crushing’
difficulty?
This requires experimentation, but you only need to make your task a
little bit more difficult than it currently is. For me, this often
means something as simple as using a timer while I work. If I easily
assume that I’ll be able to complete my work in 30 minutes, then I set a
timer for 20 minutes and see what I’m able to pull off.

Typically, this forces me to focus very quickly due to the
added difficulty of the time constraint. You do need to be careful,
however, as it’s easy to think something like “I have to beat the clock or I
suck.” That’s not true – the timer and added difficulty are only a
means to break you into deep focus more quickly, not a way to judge your
capabilities.

Will this work for everyone?
I wouldn’t be surprised if this methodology didn’t work for everyone – after
all, some people don’t like to “play on hard mode” so to speak. But with
surprising consistency, this works for me precisely because I can get
bored or distracted from mundane tasks easily.

The other method of potential success here is to become more comfortable
with boredom and lessen your dopamine intake. While that may work as well,
the pressure of constraints is more consistent for me personally.

“But Adam, I’m confused – at one point you were saying to beat procrastination
with ‘Laughably Small Tasks’ – are you telling me to do the opposite
now???”
Not at all! I actually combine these into an idea I call Laughably
Small/Impossibly Hard. For me to get started, the barrier to entry needs to
be miniscule. If I want to read a book, the bar of success is often “pick
up my Kindle” – but once I’ve gotten rolling, I may flame out quickly.
That’s where increasing the difficulty comes in.

So, if I succeed in getting started and find it difficult to keep
focused (remember, you don’t need to do this for all tasks), that’s
when I’ll up the difficulty level.

Okay so how do we get through the grind again?

1. Instead of making it easier, amp up the difficulty level
2. Don’t make it too hard, but hard enough that it forces you to focus
   fully
3. You don’t need to employ this for everything you do, just experiment where
   you lack focus.

So while I may not herd or frolic with goats…
Like our dear friend Kaldi, I have no need or desire to “enjoy the grind” like
the rest of you. While Kaldi used caffiene to energize himself, I simply raise
the level of difficulty and it works for me! Give it a shot and see if it works
for you.