Do the Hardest Thing First

A friend sent me an article about four habits that help people perform at a very high level, and the last of the habits mentioned was really interesting to me.

First of all, seems ironic because it was listed last, because the habit is to do the hardest thing first every day.

I have heard this described in different ways.

A friend of mine calls it “doing the worst thing first”, meaning the hardest thing, or the thing you don’t want to do, but getting things out of the way that are difficult or hard can help set you up for success, and there’s three reasons why I really like this piece of advice.

Number one, when you get the hardest thing done first, it gets it out of the way, you don’t have to think about it or worry about it anymore the rest of that day!

Second, it can create momentum for all the other things you have to do that day, and the article describes it as the hardest thing being like the first domino that gets pushed, that knocks all the other dominos down. It helps you get some traction for other things.

Third, I feel pretty strongly that when you show yourself that you can do the most difficult thing, the hardest thing first every day, you start to build confidence, confidence that you can handle difficult things, and when you experience that day after day, it helps you realize that no matter what obstacles you’re up against, you can handle anything that you choose to do.