Tracktacular > Blog > How to Love What You Hate

The things you hate are actually valuable life improvement opportunities in disguise. With a little effort, you can turn them into lifelong personal victories.

The first step is to identify the things that you hate. Some will be obvious, but others will be subtle annoyances that you've subconsciously come to accept over time. Look for sudden changes in your mood or subconscious activities like sighing, and figure out what's causing it.

Try to discover the root cause of your feelings. Is it a physical discomfort, or a mental one? Is it caused by the actions of you, or the actions of others? Is it based on an association or a memory? Is it inefficient or repetitive? The more knowledge you can glean about why you hate something, the better prepared you'll be to conquer it.

Declare war against something you hate and vow to conquer it. Act on any opportunity to improve the situation.

Some problems can be solved with money, others can be solved with creativity. Either way, there's a good chance someone else has fought the same battle. Ask your friends, or look online for creative ideas. If a solution doesn't exist, then you have a wonderful opportunity to invent one!

You might even notice that the more time you spend working on something, the less you hate it. Don't be alarmed, you are merely suffering from a variation of Stockholm syndrome.

Examples In Practice

To give you some ideas, here is a list of five things from my personal life that I hated and vowed to conquer.

Waking up to a loud, piercing alarm clock was like being slapped in the face every morning.

I ditched my traditional alarm clock and purchased a multimedia dock for my smart phone. Then I loaded it with a soothing audio clip from a video game loading screen. I looped the clip and increased the volume with each iteration so it wouldn't be jarring.

Laundry day was bad enough, but folding t-shirts was about as exciting as watching paint dry.

I stumbled upon an interesting video called How to Fold Shirts, and then everything changed. This new folding motion was so different and fluid from my previous bumblings that I couldn't help but to enjoy myself every time I did it.

Commuting to work on public transportation was like living in a non-violent zombie apocalypse.

But commuting forced me to use my time constructively. It became the perfect opportunity to progress through my Book Library, learn from Stuff You Should Know podcasts, and play emulated Video Games from my childhood. I may have been a zombie, but at least I was entertained.

I've got no beef with drumsticks, but I couldn't get any beef from buffalo wings thanks to those two little bone barriers.

Just like folding shirts, I discovered a video called How To Eat Chicken Wings and my mind was subsequently blown. Not only was there a delicate art to eating wings, but mastering the challenge made it far more rewarding to eat them. Nowadays, I brush the drumsticks aside.

"Animals are crapping in our houses, and we're picking it up. Did we lose a war?" - Homer Simpson

I was so sick of scooping cat litter that I invented and prototyped a brilliant spinning litter box. Unfortunately, the clever name for my invention was taken by a company who had already been selling my invention for years...

Nevertheless, there was light at the end of the tunnel when I discovered The Litter Robot, mark II, fully automated self-cleaning robotic death-star litter disposal unit. My wallet may be much lighter now, but so is my mood - and that's worth paying for.

Moral of the Story

Never underestimate the effects of minor, consistent annoyances over the course of a lifetime. Flip them around, and you'll feel victorious for the rest of your life!

Try It!

Create a Goal called Conquering Hates, and measure your progress by objectives completed. Add each thing you hate as an objective, and take them on one at a time.

Blog

How to Love What You Hate

By Anthony DePalma on August 4, 2013

Opportunities In Disguise

Examples In Practice

Moral of the Story

Try It!