Recast an unpleasant task

Sometimes suffering is optional

Every year, as tax deadlines draw near, I start lamenting that I’ll need to sort and add up my business expenses. There are a million things I’d rather be doing, so my tendency is to procrastinate until this task truly needs to be done.

Then, a few years ago, I had a revelation. I didn’t actually have to add up my expenses. The option existed to simply report my income, which I always track carefully. If I didn’t deduct anything, my taxes could be done in 10 seconds.

Of course, that would be stupid, as I would miss out on thousands of dollars in deductions, and thus pay a lot more in taxes than I needed to. But something about this revelation changed my mindset. By sorting and adding up my expenses, I was choosing an optional activity that was earning me north of a thousand dollars per hour. That’s good money! I felt far less resentful.

Seeing with new eyes

If you have some sort of unpleasant task you are facing, perhaps you, too, can recast the experience as something more pleasant.

If you’re stuck on a call you do not wish to be on, maybe you can go for a walk outside while you’re listening. Now you just got some exercise and fresh air!

If you’re waiting somewhere, make sure you have a good book — hopefully one that’s good enough that you don’t mind the delay. You just got an extra 20 minutes to read that thriller!

Save a favorite podcast or audiobook for a long drive and the drive will feel less tedious. I used to watch the Oprah Winfrey show on the treadmill at 4 p.m. I wasn’t just running…I was watching TV I probably wouldn’t have let myself watch during the workday otherwise!

Suffering is optional

Now of course sometimes you have to dig a little deeper to find a positive angle. Maybe your aunt expects everyone’s attendance at a family dinner where the food is, let’s just say, not that good. Rather than focus on the unpleasant food, or even more challenging, getting your kids not to complain about the unpleasant food, you can recast this task as a chance to ask three older relatives about their favorite stories from childhood. The event is a success when you get those stories. You can always take your part of the clan out for pizza afterwards.

We can make things into far worse ordeals by letting them take over our mental states. While unpleasant tasks are a part of life, sometimes suffering is optional. So think about how you can recast an unpleasant task to be less unpleasant. You’ll probably find yourself feeling a lot happier about life in general.