When I started writing this article, I had two tasks on my to-do list that just wouldn’t budge. I put them there in December. One had to do with a home insurance policy and the other with moving some retirement funds. Neither has a meaningful deadline. Both are things I really should do, but I never want to do. Does this sound familiar?
Most of us have stubborn items like these on our to-do lists, tasks that never seem to get done. Nothing bad happens seems to happen if we ignore them, so we don’t do them, even if our rational mind says we should. Maybe there are never any consequences beyond a low-key feeling of guilt. But maybe there are, somewhere, down the line. You never know when, say, minor insurance and retirement paperwork tasks might come back to bite you, if ignored long enough.
What can you do to knock these chores off your list? There are some tried-and-true methods for lighting a little fire under yourself to do them, which I’ll share here. Plus, I’ll tell you what finally helped me check off my own unmoving to-dos.
1. Do It First Thing in the Morning
Many productivity enthusiasts swear by tackling annoying tasks first thing in the morning. The idea is to get minor tasks off your plate early before you get wrapped up in more important work, deep-focus work, or before anything else comes along to distract you.
This trick is great if the task meets two requirements:
- it takes only a few minutes and
- it’s not time- or place-dependent.
If you make a habit of banging out any task that takes less than, say, five minutes before you even open your email, you could see a lot more movement on your to-do list.
When a task takes longer than a few minutes, or when it can only be done during a certain time or place, this trick doesn’t work. In my case, the two tasks I need to do have to happen during US Pacific time business hours, which doesn’t line up with my morning. I need consider other options.
2. Delegate It (Make Someone Else Do It)
If at first you don’t succeed, give the job to someone else.
I’m kidding, but I’m not kidding about delegating some tasks when you haven’t been able to complete them yourself.
Quite frankly, I’m terrible at delegating. I have a hard time asking for help. I worry about inconveniencing people. I like to be in control. Maybe you feel the same way.
How can we get better at delegating? For starters, we can think through a list of potential delegates even before we decide which tasks to offload. Colleagues, family members (including responsible children of an appropriate age), babysitters or other caretakers, and, in some situations, neighbors are all potential helpers.
Before you worry about inconveniencing someone, put the shoe on the other foot. How would I feel if my neighbors asked me to sign for a package or let in a repair person if they couldn’t be home to do it? As long as the request fits my schedule, it would be no problem. A simple thought experiment can make delegating seem like a totally reasonable option.
One of my chores is actually perfectly suited for my partner to do. Come to think of it, he was supposed to do it initially and didn’t, so I delegated it to myself! As to my financial task, only I can do it because I need to verify my identity and sign some papers in the process.
3. Promise Yourself a Reward
As much as I don’t want to do my two tasks, I can think of a few things that I’d like more, such as a new pair of sweatpants or an extra $20 in my monthly coffee budget. Setting a reward for yourself can increase motivation.
Research suggests that motivation is higher when we don’t know our payout. For example, in one study, participants had to complete a water-drinking task. They received either $1 or $2 for getting the job done. When they knew they would get $2, about 43 percent of the subjects completed successfully. When they didn’t know whether they’d get $1 or $2, 70 percent finished.
How can you use rewards and uncertainty to your advantage? You could write down two possible rewards and then, once the task is complete, flip a coin to see which one you get. Or you could ask for help in creating randomness. Come up with a list of potential rewards and ask a friend to choose one without telling you what it is until you do the task.
Food often comes up in discussions about self-rewards, and I have mixed feelings about it. Sure, it’s an easy, low-cost reward, but it can conflict with other goals, like losing or maintaining weight. For people who have had complicated relationships with food in the past, using it for motivation can also be psychologically detrimental. Be careful in deciding whether food is the right motivator for you.
When I was trying to get my tasks done, I remembered that I had some exquisite German chocolate-covered marzipan that I’d been saving for a special occasion. I decided that if I took care of the insurance-related task, I would treat myself to it alongside a cup of my favorite coffee. And what do you know? I got that sucker done. One down, one to go!
4. Use Temptation Bundling
Another rewards-based motivation technique is called temptation bundling. This idea comes from Katherine Milkman, associate professor at The Wharton School, The University of Pennsylvania. It’s useful for stubborn to-dos that are recurring, such as exercising daily or driving to a weekly appointment.
Temptation bundling is the act of giving yourself a reward while you’re in the act of doing the task you don’t want to do. In other words, you simultaneously get the reward while doing the task. It’s a kind of positive reinforcement. In Milkman’s research, she gave college students access to best-selling audiobooks only while they were at the gym. Her research showed that students who got the audiobooks went to the gym more often than a control group, and they continued to go more often even after the audiobooks program ended. The students had created a habit that was positively reinforced.
So let’s say you hate going to your annual OBGYN appointment. You could bundle a guilty pleasure, such as reading trashy magazines. Or maybe you hate catching up on email but you love pedicures. The solution: Get a pedicure and catch up on email while you’re in the salon chair.
My tasks were not recurring ones, so they weren’t set up for temptation bundling, unfortunately.
5. Create a Negative Consequence
If positive reinforcement doesn’t cut the mustard, maybe negative consequences will. Would you donate a dollar to your least favorite political party for every day you don’t do your task? Most of us would need a seriously hard-core friend to hold us accountable.
There’s a famous story of a woman named Zelda Gamson, who quit smoking when her friend created a contract with her. The contract said if Zelda ever smoked again, the friend would donate a huge sum to the Ku Klux Klan. Zelda never smoked another cigarette. The consequence was too great.
I don’t think negative consequences would work for me. They’re really tough to choose and even tougher to implement. Plus, every day that I don’t get my tasks done, I already feel bad! Why would I want more negativity? Still, they might be a useful motivator for you.
6. Rethink Your Tasks
A common reason people end up with tasks that they just can’t complete is that they write down the wrong thing. They lump together a series of related tasks instead of breaking it down into smaller steps. The same thing happens with goals. If you want to be successful at reaching goals, you need to break them down into component parts. Each part has to be a single, actionable, quantifiable item. That’s why “jog for 30 minutes today” is a better task than “get fit.” Getting fit is a goal, but it’s not a task.
It turns out that the financial task I need to do is actually three or four tasks, possibly more. In fact, I have no idea what the task entails! The problem is I wrote down “Investigate retirement account rollover” rather than the first step that I actually need to take. The first step is to gather the paperwork. Every time I thought about my task, I said to myself, “Argh! I don’t even know where the paperwork is!” So finding the paperwork should be the first task in this series.
The second step is to find the phone number and contact name, and the third step is to call the bank. The fourth step is to ask about my options. After that, I’m not sure what’s next, but look! I already have four specific, doable tasks instead of one vague, unmanageable assignment. That’s already an improvement.
The Final Tally
Where did I end up with my two tasks? I fully accomplished one by enticing myself with a treat, and I’m so relieved that it’s done. The other task is still in progress, now that I’ve taken it apart and reorganized it into smaller steps that are more manageable.
The next time you have a stubborn task that won’t budge on your to-do list, just remember you have some tricks for making it happen. Is it small enough to bang out first thing in the morning? Can you ask someone else to do it? Would you be motivated by a reward or by doing something pleasurable simultaneously while you work on the task? Could you use a negative consequence to give you a nudge? Finally, when all else fails, try to rethink the task, maybe breaking it down into smaller, more manageable steps.
For more help on getting things done, you could also read 10 Ways to Make Better To-Do Lists.
