Do you find that you don’t enjoy some of the activities that you have to do in life?  The place we most often experience this is work, right?  You ‘have’ to work in order to earn a living which means, even if you have chosen your job, you have not necessarily chosen all of the activities that you do in your job.  It can be difficult to perform many activities, regardless if it is at work or at home.

It is important that you enjoy whatever it is that you find yourself doing, whether you have chosen to do that task (such as playing a sport or writing) or something that you ‘have’ to do (such as writing a paper for school or an activity at work).  How much you enjoy an activity can make all of the difference.  You can find ways to enjoy whatever you have to do, or want to do, more.

Here are 10 ways to enjoy the activities that you do in life:

1. DECIDE.  Decide that you are going to do the activity because it helps you.  Do not tell yourself that you are doing something because you have to.  When you make a decision, you are telling your subconscious that this activity, even if it is just for this moment, is now a part of you.  If you believe it is a part of your identity, you will ‘act into’ it.  As human beings, we tend to act like the person we believe ourselves to be and decision is the first part of that process.
2. LOOK AT ALL OF THE BENEFITS. No matter what activity you are doing, there are always benefits to you performing them.  Focus on what is good with an activity; it can make or break your willpower to perform it.  If you focus on the responsibility, or dwell on all of the things that you hate about the activity, you will notice that the opposite happens.
3. LET YOURSELF HAVE FUN. Often overlooked, just let yourself have fun.  Make it a game!  Don’t put undue stress on yourself by overthinking.  Tell yourself that you are going to have fun today, or right now, just doing what you are doing.  Most any activity can be fun if you just let it!
4. DON’T PRACTICE BLINDLY. Develop goals and/or a framework for when you perform this activity.  If the activity is writing, such as writing a report, focus on how you convey the information with appropriate storytelling.  The trick here is to be intentional about what you want to get out of the activity, session to session.  Getting better at anything will tend to make you enjoy it more.
5. PRACTICE BLINDLY. This is a contradiction to the previous item, but sometimes it is important to test yourself when nothing is on the line.  Using the previous example, write some practice ‘reports’ reflecting work you have recently done.  I know this sounds like extra work but this is for you to get better!  It is best to have someone provide you with feedback during this type of training.  If you your chosen activity is not a sport, such as writing, then it this could be a free writing session where you just write.
6. PRACTICE IN PIECES. Pick one skill and work on it exclusively for a period of time.  Using writing a report as an example again, you could buy a grammar activity book and test yourself in order to improve the quality of your writing.  Break the items down into the smallest possible pieces and perfect each one!
7. TEACH SOMEONE ELSE HOW TO GET BETTER. Teaching others how to do something can be quite enjoyable and can give you an appreciation for how far you have actually come in your journey.  I cannot stress enough the importance of teaching others for improving anything you do.  When you teach, your mind thinks about the activity in a completely different way!
8. DON’T TRY TO BE THE BEST. If you don’t take your activities lightly, you will stress yourself out when doing them.  Competition has its place; I won’t deny that.  But, competitiveness all the time will burn you out and remove all of the joy from what you are doing.  Enjoy the activity for what it is, rather than for what it might give you.
9. VISUALIZE THE FUTURE. It can be fun to get lost in the future sometimes.  Take some time to think about your ‘vision’ of the activity.  Think about how good you will be at the activity in the future.  Think of how you will be able to help others with it.  It will help renew your appreciation of it.  Above all else, visualize the challenges you may face in the activity, brainstorm how you will counter those challenges, then see yourself overcoming them.
10. BE OPTIMISTIC. No matter what the activity is, or how you are feeling that day, always look for the good in the activity.  Be positive when you talk to others about the activity and be especially positive when you talk to yourself (when you think) about the activity because your focus determines your reality.  Focus on what is good and you will find that the good will manifest more often than the bad.