Only Decide To Start On A Task After You've Finished One

Here’s a secret: I procrastinate all the time. There are mice in my home, and I’ve been meaning to get them out for weeks. The tax refund I got back in April? Still needs to be deposited into my checking account. And this blog post? It’s not even due until next week!

But the longer you put off important tasks, the more they loom over your head like a giant raincloud following you around.

The good news is that there are some simple strategies you can use right now to help yourself stop procrastinating and get more done every day and it starts with what you do as soon as you walk through the doors of your office (or open up your laptop at home).

After This You’ll Change How You Do Everything! – YouTube

Takeaways
1. Focusing on completing one task before starting another enhances productivity.
2. Prioritize finishing tasks to avoid a buildup of unfinished work.
3. Switching tasks prematurely can lead to reduced efficiency and increased distractions.
4. By completing tasks sequentially, you can maintain focus and momentum.
5. Taking the time to fully finish a task can provide a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction.
6. Avoid the temptation to jump between tasks without completing them.
7. Embrace the concept of task completion as a motivator for starting new tasks.
8. Developing a disciplined approach to task management can improve overall productivity.
9. Practice effective time management techniques to allocate dedicated time for task completion.
10. Learn to resist the urge to constantly switch tasks and instead adopt a finish-first mindset.

Table of Contents

You’ll Have More Time To Think About Your Decision

By waiting until you’ve finished a task before deciding what to do next, you’ll have more time to think about what you want to do and how much time you have.

If your list of tasks is long and there are only a few hours left in the day, then it makes sense that you would be more likely to choose something fun.

But if your list of tasks is short but there’s still plenty of time left in the day, then it makes sense that you would want to try something difficult or challenging so that it counts as “one complete thing” on your list.

It also means that when we decide what we want out of our lives (and make plans accordingly).

We don’t put ourselves into situations where our emotions get in the way like when someone breaks up with us for no reason so we panic about losing them completely (even though they had already stopped loving us).

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You Might Feel Like Working On Something Else

When you’re faced with two tasks that are equally important and need to be completed, it’s easy to think “I should just do both of them.”

And if you have enough time, this is often the best move. But when you don’t have enough time? That’s when all of your focus needs to go into one task before moving on to another.

Why? There are a few reasons:

You may end up being more motivated to work on one task than another for any number of reasons (maybe it’s closer to completion or more interesting).
If you haven’t finished something completely before starting on something else, then it will feel like wasted effort. You’ll get frustrated at yourself for not finishing what you started earlier.

You Might Realize You’re Not In The Mood To Do Anything

You might want to do anything but work. You could be tired, hungry, bored, sick, frustrated, or overwhelmed. You might even be angry or sad.

If you start a task before you finish one (or several), these feelings may interfere with your motivation and ability to focus on the task at hand. After all, if you’re emotional it can be difficult to think clearly and make good decisions about what needs to be done next!

Your Coworkers Or Family Members May Need Your Help

As you work on a task, your coworkers or family members may need your help. This can be an opportunity for both parties to learn something new and get more done in the process.

If they ask if you have time to help them, consider whether or not they’re asking because they need your assistance, or because they enjoy working with you so much that they just want to spend more time doing it.

If it’s the latter and not the former, then by all means go ahead and do whatever will make them happy!

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Anything Can Happen When You Refresh Your Feed

However, when you’re in the middle of something and decide to take a break, there are no guarantees. You could see a funny video that makes you laugh out loud or a sad video that makes your eyes well up with tears.

You could even see one that will make you angry enough to do something about it. On top of this, when we get distracted by our phones or other devices (and this is where most people’s attention spans are spent nowadays).

We’re not giving ourselves time to think and plan as much as we should be; instead of taking advantage of our cognitive resources, they get whittled away by mindless distractions in social media feeds and elsewhere online.

You Could Get A Call From Someone Who Needs To Talk

Think about it: you could get a call from someone who needs your help.

You might be able to help them with their problem, help them make a decision, or even help them finish some work for you!

If you’re not feeling like working on your task right now but it’s still important that it gets done, then don’t worry you can simply set aside everything else and focus on this new task. The person who called will be grateful that they could reach out when they needed it most.

The Clock Might Tell You It’s Time To Take A Break

The clock might tell you it’s time to take a break. It could tell you that your brain needs a few minutes of rest or that you’ll be more effective if you take a short nap. When the clock tells you that it’s time to go home and relax, maybe it’s telling the truth!

The clock could also tell you when it’s time for dinner or bedtime. If the sun sets and darkness falls, chances are good that this is probably an accurate assessment of what your body wants at this exact moment in time.

The sun may appear to rise again later on, but there’s nothing wrong with listening to the messages from nature when they arrive.

An Unexpected Package Could Arrive

Don’t forget that an unexpected package could arrive. You might be busy with your task when the doorbell rings and you find a box outside. Maybe it’s a delivery for someone else, or maybe it’s for you and you’ll have to open it up (or put it together).

Or maybe what’s inside needs to be returned, shipped, or recycled! No matter what the situation is, don’t pour yourself into something until after this new task is complete.

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A Member Of Your Team Could Ask For Your Opinion

One of the reasons why we feel so good about ourselves after finishing a task is that we’ve created something. We have a product to show for our efforts, which is something that can be very satisfying and motivating when you’re working on a project with other people.

As an example, imagine that you work in marketing and your boss asks you to help out with developing an ad campaign for their new product launch.

You get started right away by drafting some ideas and brainstorming how best to showcase this new offering.

If all goes as planned, your company will use one of your pitches in their final campaign presentation and since everyone knows how much effort went into creating it, they will likely take extra care in making sure it lives up to expectations!

But what if no such luck? What if there isn’t enough time left before launch day?

Then maybe someone else could present instead; maybe someone who has more experience than yourself would be better suited for the task at hand (or even just someone who isn’t feeling quite as tired).

Either way, if something like this does happen it’s important not to let feelings about being “unappreciated” cloud judgment about whether or not they’re needs to do anything concerning other people’s time

You Could Find Yourself In Traffic And Need To Get Off A Few Exits Early

Let’s say you’re driving on the highway and you notice that traffic is really slow. You might decide to take an exit off of the highway earlier than planned, which will often lead to a better route or shorter trip.

When you’re in my car, sometimes I’ll want to avoid going through a neighborhood because it doesn’t look safe and sometimes I’ll find some cool neighborhoods that are worth visiting!

Errands Like Going Grocery Shopping May Suddenly Sound Appealing

Your brain is a powerful thing, even if it doesn’t always seem like it.

When you’ve been stuck on a task for some time and then decide to move on to something else, your mind will do its best to make sure that your motivation level stays high by giving you an excuse or reason to get up from where you are and do something else.

In this case, errands like going grocery shopping may suddenly sound appealing not because of any need for food or other items but simply because they provide an excuse for getting out of what feels like an endless project.

This isn’t necessarily bad: taking breaks from work is good for productivity overall, as long as those breaks don’t turn into distractions themselves (more on this later).

But if your motivation can only last so long before needing another boost from an external source even if the source itself isn’t necessary.

Then perhaps working on other things altogether would be more effective at keeping your mind engaged in productive activity throughout each day.

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A Friend Might Text You That They’re Out And Want Some Company

There are many ways to respond to this. You could make plans with your friend, and then go out with them after you finish your task. You could also say “no” and say that you’re busy doing something else, but the truth is that they’ll probably just ask again later on.

The third option is to stay home and do whatever it was that you were going to do before your friend texted you in the first place (play video games, watch Netflix).

This can be a good option if it’s cold outside or it’s late at night (and therefore likely not very safe for driving), or if there isn’t anything else interesting happening in town tonight anyway.

You Could Reach The Point Where You Need An Excuse To Procrastinate, So You’ll Make One Up (And Decide Not To Work)

You’ll notice that you have a lot of tasks on your to-do list, and sometimes, one task can seem much more exciting than another.

For example, the thought of writing a book feels awesome in your head you can picture yourself sitting down each morning and knocking out a few pages before going out for coffee with friends.

But when it comes time to sit down and write, you don’t want to do it at all! If I were writing an article about why procrastinators make excuses not to work on their projects (and I’m not).

I might even say that this is because we’re bored by our boring job: our boss makes us do boring things all day long; our colleagues are uninspiring, and so on so we spend our spare time thinking up new ideas instead of doing what matters most right now.

However much sense this may make in theory (or not), there’s another reason why people often decide not to work through their procrastination: they simply aren’t in the mood or feeling inspired enough yet!

Maybe they’ve just finished working on something else and need a break from their project before they feel like getting back into it again? Or maybe they just don’t know where to start yet?

Your Favorite Song Could Come On The Radio And Make You Want To Turn It Up And Drive Around With The Windows Down And Sunroof Open For Hours (After Work, Of Course)

It’s possible that your favorite song could come on the radio and make you want to turn it up and drive around with the windows down and sunroof open for hours (after work, of course).

You can also go for a walk or run, or do something fun, spontaneous, exciting, or interesting with a friend, partner, or family member. Or maybe your pet could use some love.

The Weather Outside Could Be So Gorgeous That You Decide There’s No Way This Is The Day You’ll Spend Inside All Day

You can’t control the weather, but you can make the most of it when it presents an opportunity. It might be so gorgeous outside that you decide there’s no way this is the day to stay inside all day.

Or perhaps it’s so terrible out that you feel like there’s nothing else to do but hunker down at home and watch Netflix with a blanket and some hot cocoa.

The unpredictability of the weather makes it more exciting than just checking off tasks on your list; if you were able to predict what would happen each day, life would get boring pretty fast!

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The Day Could Turn Into Night, And Before You Know It, It Will Be Time To Go Home For Real

You may think that you can take on more tasks at once, but in reality, the day will turn into night and before you know it, it will be time to go home for real.

You may feel tired and ready to leave work early, but the truth is that your work will never be done if you try to do too much at once.

It’s often the case that people who attempt this end up doing poorly or even worse not finishing anything! It’s important to not only understand these facts but also recognize their implications when making decisions about your work habits.

Conclusion

As you can see, the Last-In-First-Out approach is a very effective way to ensure that you’re getting the important stuff done without letting it slip through the cracks.

It’s not just a simple tactic for prioritizing your workload it’s also an effective way to create a sort of “self-check” that forces you to take responsibility for your time management.

With this mindset in place, you will accurately assess which tasks are urgent and need to be tackled first, and which ones can wait until later. This is especially useful for small businesses where everyone has a lot on their plate and needs some help staying focused!

FAQs

Here are some frequently asked questions about starting tasks and overcoming procrastination:

How can I motivate myself to start a task I’ve been avoiding?

Discovering your intrinsic motivation, breaking the task into smaller steps, and setting specific goals can help you overcome the initial resistance and find the drive to start.

What are some practical strategies to overcome procrastination?

Using time management techniques such as the Pomodoro Technique, creating a detailed schedule, and eliminating distractions can be effective strategies to overcome procrastination and initiate tasks.

Why do people tend to delay starting tasks?

Procrastination can stem from various factors, including fear of failure, perfectionism, feeling overwhelmed, lack of clarity, or low motivation. Understanding the underlying reasons can help in finding suitable solutions.

How can I prioritize my tasks effectively?

Prioritizing tasks based on importance and urgency, using prioritization frameworks like the Eisenhower Matrix, and considering deadlines and dependencies can help you allocate your time and energy efficiently.

Are there any specific techniques to overcome the resistance to starting a task?

Techniques like visualization, accountability partnerships, creating a supportive environment, and practicing self-compassion can help in reducing the resistance to starting tasks and building momentum.

Costantine Edward

Costantine Edward is a digital marketing expert, freelance writer, and entrepreneur who helps people attain financial freedom. I’ve been working in marketing since I was 18 years old and have managed to build a successful career doing what I love.

Why You Should Only Decide To Start On A Task After You’ve Finished One