Completing Daunting Tasks: A Practical Example

Here is a suggestion as to how one might tackle this problem in relation to some task that is not getting done due to the aforementioned problem. Let us take a concrete example. Let us imagine that we are supposed to be paying a bill and it involves phoning up a company (perhaps the water board) and giving them our credit card details over the phone. For some reason we keep putting off this task. Why are we getting overwhelmed by the prospect of such a task? Sometimes there appears to be no logical explanation. And here lies one of the keys to successful completion of this daunting task. Often there actually is no logical explanation – the task is in fact surprisingly simple! Its more that we have got it into our heads that the task is not simple, as opposed to the task actually being that complex.

In terms of paying this bill, it may be that we are viewing the task too abstractly. The task ‘paying the bill’ has become a huge obstacle in our minds. The key to ‘dethroning’ this task from its lofty position of ‘that overwhelmingly difficult task’ might be to actually look at what the task really involves. Lets brake down the procedure for this particular task.

1) I will need to find the letter from – lets say the water company – in order to find the phone number to call the company and pay this bill.

2) I will need to find my credit card in order to give my credit card details over the phone in order to pay the bill

3) I will need to make the phone call, and perhaps wait on hold for a couple of minutes whilst listening to the annoying ‘hold’ music in the background

4) When the assistant answers the phone I will need to explain why I am phoning and give my credit card details so that the bill can be paid.

Let’s unpack some of these items a little.

1) It may be that this is actually pretty easy to do. In this case we can quickly move on to stage 2.

However, there may be some immediate problems that arise.

Perhaps we have not kept our post in one place. Perhaps our living area is a mess with paperwork everywhere, and perhaps finding the relevant letter is actually somewhat problematic. This highlights the problem caused by having a general weak ego mechanism and how making our wider aim to apply ego to various aspects of our life will actually help numerous other areas (see article on specific examples of ego mechanism at work). In this case, it may be more efficient for us to address the issue of a messy house prior to trying to pay the bill. Perhaps we have a hunch that the bill is in the pile of paperwork on the table. Rather than frantically flicking through the huge pile, why not start tidying and actually go through the whole pile. This may take half an hour and temporarily put off our previous aim of paying the bill. However, sometimes in order to do one task effectively, it is helpful to make preparations for that task to be done. Again, here we see an example of how those who have developed a strong ego mechanism make life easier for themselves. Those who have kept their affairs and paperwork tidy may find it easier to lay their hands on the paperwork they need at any given moment and therefore, as a result of the effort they have put into filing and tidying – paying this particular bill causes little stress.

2) Sometimes depressed people are so emotionally drained that the prospect of going upstairs and climbing over the mess in their room and scrambling through the messy drawer to find the credit card, is an emotional strain. This combined with the other ‘complications’ adds to the sense of this task being overwhelming. Now that we have broken the task into four manageable chunks and begun to consider each ‘chunk’ in isolation, hopefully it will become apparent that this element, considered on its own, is actually very easy to achieve. So lets move on to the next ‘chunk’.

3) Perhaps going back downstairs to where the phone is situated seems like a strain. Sounds ridiculous, but if we are emotionally overwhelmed by a task, then even getting up and going downstairs can put us off doing it. Once again, if considered in isolation, one can try to focus on recognising that the effort to go downstairs and use the phone is not actually too much effort. Again, the ridiculous thing is, the effort involved is partly related to the perception of how much effort is involved. If, in your mind, you have tied the idea of going downstairs to make the call, to the idea that this task is ‘overwhelming’ then it may seem like a hell of an effort to go downstairs and make the call. Once again, self-efficacy is key. If we adopt a positive attitude, ‘this really isn’t that hard – I just need to get out of this chair, walk downstairs and pick up the phone’ then this becomes a far easier task. If we adopt the attitude, ‘this is going to be such a pain, I really cant be bothered’, then we don’t attempt the task and ironically, the next time we think about doing the task, we remember how we couldn’t achieve it last time we tried, and so a cycle begins whereby every time we don’t manage to do this task, in our mind it becomes increasingly difficult to achieve. This, from my perspective, is part of the reason why depressed people end up debilitated. Every failed attempt to do a job makes each job seem increasingly difficult and thereby makes success less likely each time a job is attempted. Each time the depressed person fails, the job appears an even more overwhelming task and so the cycle continues and each job becomes increasingly emotionally overwhelming.

However, I believe that this cycle, in a far less severe form, affects all of us in relation to certain tasks. The key to overturning it, in the model I am presenting, is to break the task down into small chunks and overcome each chunk one at a time. In the case of this ‘chunk’, one needs to ‘reframe’ how she pictures the chunk. If one has been failing at this task (in the face of ‘chunk 3’ under consideration), one needs to think in the following manner: ‘ITS JUST GOING DOWNSTAIRES AND MAKING A PHONECALL – GET ON WITH IT – IT’LL BE OVER IN 5 MINUTES AND I CAN THEN FEEL GOOD ABOUT MYSELF BECAUSE I’VE ACHIEVED SOMETHING THAT I USUALLY JUST PUT OFF’.

And this is how the ability to complete tasks is developed. One has to break tasks into chunks, reframe each chunk mentally as ‘ACHIEVABLE CHUNKS’, and at some point one has to do the difficult task of forcing oneself to complete the chore in question.

Each time success is achieved, we begin to reverse the negative cycle that has been created previously. It is particularly important that we recognise what is going on, however, and FOCUS ON WHAT WE HAVE ACHIEVED. The more times we conquer an ‘overwhelming task’ and focus on the fact that we CAN do it, the more confident we become emotionally when it comes to achieving tasks, and with the increased emotional impetus, we achieve more and future tasks become easier to achieve. It’s the same as doing exercise and building a muscle. Its hard each time we do the exercise, but if we keep up with it, the muscle builds every time we exercise, and soon it is far stronger and we are lifting stronger weights – or perhaps running further (depending on what exercise we are doing).

4) Approach ‘chunk 4’ in a similar manner to ‘chunk 3’.

To someone who has never suffered from full-blown depression and pays bills on time – the above example may seem frivolous and irrelevant. But we all have jobs that we put off because we feel ‘emotionally overwhelmed’ at the prospect of attempting the job. If you have any such jobs to do, or you wish to get certain jobs done with less emotional effort, try thinking about it in the above manner. Break it into manageable chunks and then consider that each separate chunk may be easier to obtain.