I once came across an excellent story about how someone thought decorating was nothing but a really laborious chore. However, he had to paint his bedroom walls. He didn’t particularly want to do it.

So what did he do?

He painted one wall a day.

What an excellent idea! Instead of procrastinating and putting it off he just decided to start the job. There was no need to spend a good few hours doing the same boring job when he could split it up into smaller chunks. Less boredom. Less pain.

Preparing a presentation. Invoicing customers. Responding to emails.

We all have to do things that are laborious and boring. But let’s face it: many of these tasks simply have to get done. You can’t run away from them. The longer you put them off, the more the work piles up. Often, the mere thought of doing such laborious jobs is daunting in and of itself. When you break down a large task, it goes from being unbearable to tolerable.

So if you have to prepare 100 slides for a presentation and are finding it hard getting down to it, try setting yourself a target to do just two today. Get started. Often, you will find that you can do much more than that after you begin the task.

Whatever your daunting must-do tasks, break them down into smaller chunks and just begin. You will find yourself getting much more done.