I am very much a morning person, and it didn’t take me long once I reached adulthood to realize that if I have a plan for the day or want to get something done, I need to start in the morning. I can’t wait around until mid-afternoon, and I definitely can’t stay up past my bedtime — the morning is it for me. Even as a kid, staying up late to finish my homework was never a thing. But going to bed and setting an alarm for 5 a.m.? Oh, it’ll get done.
Now, if I lose that morning time as a mom of three, I feel totally lost for the rest of the day. But learning to adapt feels even more important than knowing my “best” time of day, and I am forever looking for ways to “trick” my brain into getting on task. Whether it’s getting on top of my to-do list, switching into work mode from drive-everyone-to-school mode, or even getting a workout in, I want there to be a button I smash on the side of my head that puts me into the motivated mindset I need at that moment.
While there’s no button, experts say there are some ways to “trick” your brain into thinking you pushed some kind of magical button.
Start Before You Feel Ready
“Many people assume motivation comes first and action follows, but what we understand from neuroscience and behavioral psychology is that the brain often works in the opposite direction — small actions can shift brain states and make motivation more accessible,” says Cristina Billingsley, a licensed marriage and family therapist and clinical director of Sierra Center for Wellness. So all those times you’re sitting on the couch and think, “Ugh, if I could just get moving, we’d get some sh*t done,” is actually science.
(I knew you were smart.)
“Resistance often lessens once we start moving, and brain chemicals associated with mood and reward begin to shift,” says Billingsley, noting that this is why a routine can also be so beneficial. Like going to the gym at the same time on the same day each week — that movement “tricks” your brain into the workout motivation you need, as opposed to hoping you’ll get motivated out of nowhere and head to the gym.
“Something as simple as putting on tennis shoes can become a powerful behavioral cue that signals the brain to prepare for activity. These cues reduce decision fatigue and help engage the parts of the brain responsible for planning and follow-through, which makes it easier to get started, even when motivation isn’t there.” — Cristina Billingsley, LMFT
Dr. Erica Rozmid, a board-certified behavioral and clinical psychologist and clinical assistant professor at UCLA, agrees, telling me that convincing your brain to get motivated to do something is more about doing exactly the opposite of what you actually want to do — it’s called dialectical behavior therapy (DBT).
“If you want to sit on the couch because you’re depressed after doomscrolling, instead get up and go for a walk or call a friend. If you want to cancel on your dinner plans because of social anxiety or fatigue, go ahead and go to the dinner anyway,” she says. “You could also first address social anxiety by sending a text, then making a phone call, then attending the event. Your brain will learn that it can handle much more discomfort, which builds your distress tolerance over time.”
Use Cues to Trigger Your Brain
Billingsley says that our brains respond strongly to cues, putting actions into practice, and sensory input — and we can do all of these things ourselves to set up our brain. She thinks of it as working with the brain’s “natural wiring.”
If you’re needing to get motivated to work out, for example, she suggests laying out your clothes the night before, going for a short walk as a warm-up to “cue” your body that it’s time for physical activity, and even curating and playing a playlist that gets you pumped up for your workout.
In other words, action begets action.
“Repeated habits and sensory cues help activate different brain systems — these systems include attention, motivation, and emotional regulation,” says Billingsley. “Something as simple as putting on tennis shoes can become a powerful behavioral cue that signals the brain to prepare for activity. These cues reduce decision fatigue and help engage the parts of the brain responsible for planning and follow-through, which makes it easier to get started, even when motivation isn’t there.”
Shrink the Task
So it looks like the way to trick your brain is… to just do the darn thing. But there are some hacks that can make even that suggestion feel less overwhelming.
Rozmid recommends shrinking tasks: Whatever it is you need to do, whether it’s exercising or cleaning or running errands, just tell yourself that all you have to do is start. All you have to do is drive to the gym, open the dishwasher, or pull out the laundry basket. “If after starting or going for five minutes you want to stop, stop,” she says. “But you will usually be motivated enough to keep going for a while longer.”
Challenge Distorted Thinking
Rozmid also suggests pairing any task you’re dreading with something more enjoyable to “rewire your brain’s reward system.” So save your favorite podcast for laundry or tell yourself that once you’re done building out that slideshow for work, you can go take a long, hot bath.
Your brain is also really good at convincing you that things are not quite what they seem, and in order to get yourself into the “mode” you want, you have to recognize when there are some “unhelpful cognitive distortions,” Rozmid says.
She identifies those as “all-or-nothing thinking, mind reading, or catastrophizing” and says that while these patterns of thinking try to protect us from danger, they aren’t always accurate. We know that even if we can’t work out for a full 30 minutes, a 10-minute walk is still beneficial. We know that even if our goal is to clean the whole kitchen, getting the counters wiped down and the dishes put away is still enough. We know that we’ve been in situations where we procrastinated and felt overwhelmed by a project, but in the end, we still got it done.
And those are the things we have to keep telling our brain so she gets her sh*t together.
Accept Your Reality
Better yet, lower the bar. Rozmid says this aligns with DBT’s “radical acceptance skill.” At the end of the day, your reality is your reality. You have to do the laundry, you have to order groceries, you have to do your job. “By accepting, we actually reduce feelings of resistance and, therefore, procrastination. You may never get the motivation, confidence, or inspiration you’re waiting for, but when you change your behavior and challenge unhelpful thought patterns, you give your brain new evidence that you can handle more than you think.”
