When you are completing a difficult task, one of the best things you can do for your long-term motivation and confidence is to voluntarily go beyond what is required. If you want to reverse your tendency to abandon what you said you would do when it gets harder than you expected, make it harder when you are tempted to quit.
As crazy as it sounds to suggest that difficult situations should be made harder, you will find that there is no greater payback than the little extra effort that can be imparted at the end of an already gargantuan task. There is great power in laughing in the face of exhaustion. Going beyond the previously establishing ending point by adding finishing touches, enduring the effort a little longer, or jumping right into the very next task instead of taking a break can do wonders for your confidence that you can do hard things well—and you can.
Train yourself by giving yourself evidence that you don’t take shortcuts. When you are tempted to quit early, work extra time. When you are tempted to violate your character qualities, double down in whatever the positive attribute is.
Character is contagious. As you stretch toward your best, you will catalyze improvement in others. Most of us have experienced how one person’s complaints among a group of people suffering the same affliction disproportionately brings everyone down. Fewer people have seen just what one person’s stretching towards excellence can do for the rest. Crack a joke amidst a particularly terrible trial, especially if it is abundantly obvious that you are carrying the heaviest load in your group. Suggest to your group that you make the task even harder, especially if no one else will see or care—make it a symbol of internal pride. See who wants to stay on a little longer, who wants to go on a little further, who wants to go a little faster. Watch what happens when you invert the situation from being the victim to making it yours.
Not only do your moments of exemplary performance help everyone who sees them, each will help you be better than you would otherwise be by providing evidence that you are better than you thought. Your own high water marks provide you with evidence of greater capability, and each one of them is like a deposit into an interest bearing account that can be drawn upon in your times of need.
Don’t just get tasks done; dominate them; vanquish them.