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Image: jupiterimages.comEver have times when the thought of doing a task makes you freeze? What do you do then?
Do you decide that it may not be the right time to do the task, and put it off for another day?
But time and again, whenever you think about the task you freeze again the same way, until the day arrives when your bottoms are on fire and you have no other choice but to start the task because it has become too urgent, or until the day arrives that you decide to give it up because it is no longer achievable?
What I just described is a typical pattern of procrastination, a huge hurdle towards achieving one’s goals. There are multiple reasons that could cause this to happen. In this post, I will address one of those reasons – The granularity of the tasks. Improper granularity of tasks was one of the main reasons that I used to keep procrastinating tasks many a times, and I will explain just how I was able to deal with it effectively.
Simply put, granularity of the task at hand is about the size of the task. Most of us are used to defining tasks that are coarse grained. It’s tempting to do so, as it eliminates the need to think deep about the task at early stages. However, that’s the very reason that stops us dead in our feet when it is actually time to carry out the task.
The solution is to define fine-grained tasks. The smaller the granularity, the better the chances are that you will finish a task immediately without procrastinating it. Think about it!
For example, if you tell yourself you will build a website and if you are new to creating websites, chances are that you will take a long time to get started. It is very likely that you will keep procrastinating the task. But if you define finer grained tasks, chances are that you would jump onto the tasks easily and make progress towards your goal by tackling each of what seem to be (and really are) small and seemingly achievable tasks.
For example, the goal of building a website could be split as follows:
1. Decide on a domain name
2. Decide on a domain name registrar to purchase the domain from
3. Register the domain (Purchase it)
4. Decide on how many and which content pages to host initially
5. Develop a CSS template for the site
6. etc., etc.,
etc.
Even after splitting tasks, there could still be some tasks that might stop you from progressing towards your goal. During such times, you should split that task further down into subtasks. For example, in the above scenario, you might get stuck when you come to the point of developing the CSS template. The task is “Develop a CSS template for the site”, and you might want to split it into sub-tasks like “Develop a CSS template for the main page”, “Develop a CSS template for the
1. Decide on a domain name
2. Decide on a domain name registrar to purchase the domain from
3. Register the domain (Purchase it)
4. Decide on how many and which content pages to host initially
5. Develop a CSS template for the site
5.1. Develop a CSS template for the main page
5.2 Develop a CSS template for the
5.3 etc. etc.
5.4 etc.
6. etc., etc.,
etc.
Remember the plan of action that I wrote about in my previous post? Do you see the advantage of incorporating the above technique right into the plan of action itself? In fact, I already mentioned about it in the “Visualizing the details” subsection of that post, but I can understand if you had breezed past it there as it was loaded with too much detail to grasp in one read.
I can bet on the fact that you would be able to achieve your goals much faster if you have a plan of action that defines tasks to a level of such fine granularity. And, trust me, the happiness that comes from ticking off each such small task from the plan, as you complete it, is very, very satisfying! And the fact that you have completed a task clearly shows you progress towards your parent goal, and results in motivation that is strong enough to keep you pushing through until you achieve your goal.
Now before you jump on to the next post, do leave me a comment below to let me know what you think about using the above technique to tackle procrastination and achieve your goals.
Good advice here. I have to agree on the procastination part. Will refer this post again when I finally start creating my own website. Thanks for sharing this.
Hey, Jason!
Thanks so much for your comment. But the example about creating a website is just that – an example. I hope you have taken home with you the underlying message about defining fine-grained tasks in order to be able to achieve your goals better and faster.
Wishing you success,
Mark
Very helpful indeed, thank you
Hey Rona,
Good to see you here! Thanks for taking the time to drop by and leave a comment.
Btw, if you really liked the above method, I hope you take a moment to practice it soon. It’s amazing how some ideas make us feel good, but then, equally amazingly and quickly, fade out into the forgetful past if not put into practice right away.
Wishing you success,
Mark
The idea of fine-graining a task is such a useful one. I use it a lot.
In my case, I create a check list and when I look at each small, achievable task, I’m not so overwhelmed by it. Plus, the sense of satisfaction when I can cross each one out (which I find even more satisfying than just checking them off) is so good.
One thing that I have found to be really important is making certain that you are convinced you want to achieve the goal you’ve set yourself. Without that, you’re really pushing a boulder uphill. I mean, it’s really hard to do something that you don’t really want to do.
But when you remind yourself how good you’ll feel when you achieve this goal and then realize that you really do want to achieve this goal, you start crusin’
. That’s my experience anyway.
Hey TBT,
Appreciate your visit, and thank you for taking the time to share your experience.
Indeed, crossing off the tasks is very satisfying. It’s a pleasure to do so especially for those tasks that one does not necessarily enjoy doing but need to be done anyway. In fact, if it’s a task that I’ve been badly waiting to get done with, I even cross it over and over again!
Like you, I do that with my daily Things To Do (TTD) list, which I dispose off once done with, but as far as the master plan is concerned, I like to keep that clean and just tick off the tasks.
I agree with you that setting out to achieve goals that are not very convincing is not advisable. I follow what I call the “Logical” approach to setting goals.
The first component of a logical goal is the Trigger, which gives direction to the goal and helps in evaluating the need for the goal over time. If the trigger ceases to exist, then the goal may lose purpose and might as well be abolished.
Then, there is also the Vision component, without which a goal doesn’t have much value and is somewhat like paddling hard in the middle of the ocean without even having a clue of which direction the paddling is heading you in. Complementing the trigger that gives a reason for pursuing a goal, the vision lays out the larger purpose and dream situation that gives all the motivation to keep moving on during tough times.
You might want to read more about the “Logical” approach to setting goals, which you can find here.
Wishing you success,
Mark
Hello Mark
See you haven’t posted in a while. Trust all is chugging along just fine.
The Blog Doctor has been in recently and has a new post of types of commenters which I think you might find more than a little interesting
Hey there, TBT! Glad to see you around again, and thanks for the concern.
Yes, unfortunately I’ve been away a little too long… lost my health and had to see a doctor. You can check out my latest post for more on that.
And now I think my blog needs some doctor love too, so I’m off to check out your blog
Wishing you success as always,
Mark