In this age of smartphone , data consumerism and reels , shorts , it is becoming tough to focus on any particular thing . As per some surveys , people usually leave more than 45% tasks unfinished or incomplete .
Students , professionals , writers , even politicians and bureaucrats have to face this epidemic of “unfinished tasks ” .
In this article i will try to highlight the reasons behind this phenomena , and how we can overcome it and become more productive .
I left watching cricket in early 2000 , finding it very unproductive ( a decision i still lament ) . but what memories i have of cricket , one is of micheal bevan , an australian tail ender batsman , who is considered best finisher of the matches . he have a very high run rate too .
Tyranny of not finishing things is spread everywhere . most of the people leave food uneaten on there plates , we usually take too much time in completimg last 20-30% of the books ( see your kindle library and you will find this ) , etc. etc.
Thinking about reasons for this , i can ideate following ones :
1- Motivation drain with time : when we begin something , the perceived reward is high , we are motivated , sense of doing ‘something new’ gives us propulsion . with time this motivation starts depleting and at the tail end of the task it comes to very low .
2- Boredom of mediocrity : Usually initial work involves creativity and imagination . it gives us an intellectual kick too . while end portion of the task is considered formal , brainless , iterative , non challenging .
3- Lenz’s law : As physics states , i find Lenz’s law working everywhere . it starkly resembles with Chinese yin yang philosophy . Lenz’s law says that every phenomena , have an effect which counters the cause of the phenomena itself . its like everything sets its own destruction pattern , while creating itself .
its possible that neural motivation which gives us initial boost to start work , slowly goes into self depletion mode .
There are some positive reasons for incomplete tasks also . some psychologists like zeigarnik who in his famous zeigarnik effect states about correlation between tasks and memory , and says that unfinished tasks have higher retention in our memory , thus causing a tension in mind . and this particular phenomena may be used for productivity hacks .
Another great psychologist Ovsiankina , said that unfinished tasks create a perpetual tension and urge to go back to task , and it also gives self debasing nudges to our mind .
Lets come to solutions now . following tips and tacts can be used to reduce the tyranny of unfinished tasks :
1- Simple will power , by having a ego boosting self image of being a person who is a finisher . thinking that this simple habit sets u apart and above the crowd , is a motivation for finishing tasks .
2- blocking one hour in day for ‘almost completed yet unfinished tasks’ . make it your ‘completion hour’ .
3- peer pressure : you can share to do list or some shared sheet with your peers , where your unfinished tasks are visible . peer nudges work wonders .
4- mindful planing of the task
so many other tricks and tacts can be thought for being a finisher . most important thing is that we convince our own mind about the importance of completing works .
Best
Informative❤