Continuing our series about climbing a mountain of work, I often struggle  over one or two tasks. I just dread the task so much that I'll do almost anything to avoid it. Oddly enough, once I HAVE to do it (because of a deadline, for example), I usually discover that my fear of doing it was worse than actually doing it.

A useful way I've found to address this situation is to make a list or a stack of everything that needs to be done. Once things are on the list or stack, they have to be done in the order presented. So, there's no cherry-picking easier tasks from the bottom of the list or the stack. There's something psychological about that feeling of inevitably and manufactured deadline that gets me started. And once I've started, I generally realize that it's not so bad. Plus, the momentum takes over.

If that doesn't work for you and it's something you really dread, you can always go with the reward system. Make the dreaded task the only thing you need to do on the day's schedule and give yourself a reward once it's complete. It may be bribery, but it works!