I just stumbled upon something similar … recently I was staring at my ever-growing task-list. “Which of these tasks do I hate the most?” I wondered, and then decided to label one: WORST. (I had to call a company back about an incorrect bill — I’d already paid it, but I was just hating the idea of trying to explain this to them.)

Then I stared at the WORST task, and all the other ones there. Within five minutes I had picked up the phone and made the call. For some reason, once I’d deemed one (but only one) action to be the absolutely most-dreaded thing possible, it took the mystique out of it! It just didn’t hold any power over me anymore.