Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

We spend too much time avoiding some tasks. They are not interesting, praiseworthy, or worthy of note. We simply cannot stay on task. I recommend changing tasks – at least temporarily. There are many benefits to changing tasks. Some benefits apply to the original task. All the benefits apply to me.

I read a lot of blogs about “getting things done” and “do it yourself” and “life hacks” and of course “writing.” Many of these posts are about staying on task.

“I have a task that I must do, but my mind wanders, I can’t concentrate, I procrastinate, the hours creep by with no progress.”

Here is a suggestion:

Can’t stay on task?

Change the task.

Changing tasks works in many cases. Let’s consider a few.

(1) You forget the original task. If you can’t stay on that task and make any progress, you probably don’t have any interest in it. Life is to short to work on things that have no interest for you. Instead, do something that interests you; enjoy your short life by working interesting things. Besides, you have learned a valuable lesson: you have learned that some things just don’t interest you.

(2) You forget the original task and do something else instead. The hours creep by and you have accomplished something. You have something to show for the time and you probably feel better about yourself. In addition, you have learned about a new task, a new subject.

(3) Sometimes you cannot afford to move away from the original task. Someone is going to pay you for working the original task. You need the money, so you need to do it. You have learned a lesson:

Don’t put yourself in situations where you so desperately need money that you will agree to work on uninteresting things.

That is a good lesson, one whose value is difficult to estimate.

(4) Okay, you learned a great lesson, but you still have bills to pay and this uninteresting task sitting in front of you with a paycheck behind it. I still recommend the original suggestion: change the task. Do something else that interests you for a while. That doing has started your mind working. Now that your brain is engaged, switch back to the original task and hit it running full speed.

(5) A variation on (4) is to do something else that interests you for a while. You have moved to a new position mentally and emotionally. You can see the original task from a different perspective. That new perspective may be what you need to work the original task.

(6) I will stop at (5). More time and thought can probably bring to mind another half dozen ways to change the task. Please, don’t sit staring at an uninteresting task. There are far too many fascinating things around us to waste time on something that isn’t.