When we put off something important for later, an unpleasant feeling settles inside. Thoughts constantly return to the unfulfilled task, as a result, we begin to experience stress. On the contrary, having dealt with a long and laborious work, we feel joy and satisfaction. Psychologist Olga Dragaya tells about how to plan your life in order to manage everything and get energy.
When we start doing a task, a tension is created in the memory, which is discharged when the goal is achieved. Unfinished business leads to the fact that tension accumulates, and the feeling of satisfaction from what has been done does not come, the level of stress increases.
Other options are also possible:
When pleasure brings not a result, but a process. For some people, moving towards a goal is more important than the result, so unfinished business brings them more pleasure than completed ones. However, even for them, there is a stress factor from unfinished business that had to be postponed, because there is neither result nor pleasure from the process.
When neither the process nor the result is important. This category of people has neither goals nor motivation, there is chaos in their heads and lives. They do not care what and when to receive and what goals to achieve. Unfortunately, the lack of self-organization interferes with work, family, relationships with others. They will not be able to improve their lives with time management skills alone.
Most still energize from the completion of the case, so it is important for them to finish what they started. To do this, you need to be able to correctly determine the goals and objectives:
- if the matter can be finished now, it does not need to be postponed;
- a goal that cannot be achieved in the near future should be broken down into several sub-goals, each of which can be achieved in the foreseeable future. As far as possible, complete them one by one, getting satisfaction from the result, despite the fact that the main task is still “hanging”.
How to plan things the right way
There are several approaches to the issue:
- make plans for the day, week, month, year and execute them, if necessary, adjusting the list of goals;
- in each situation, determine priority tasks and solve them, and perform the remaining tasks spontaneously, as they appear.
Both approaches have a right to exist, and there are no universal recommendations on how to live correctly. You choose the scheme that allows you to accumulate energy for you. The first thing to find out is what is connected with the inflow or outflow of energy for you. And then it will become clear whether you need to deal with completed and unfinished business. Perhaps you will turn out to be exactly the person who “feeds” on unfinished business, which means that planning and regulating life does not play a significant role for you.
How to learn to finish things?
It will be mainly about those who are result-oriented, adhere to a plan, set goals. It is important for them to complete this or that business, because otherwise they will accumulate tension.
To achieve the result, you can apply the same approach as to goal setting: a business that cannot be completed in one go (for example, repairs, university studies, learning a foreign language, etc.) must be divided into stages and closed sequentially. If something doesn’t work, find out why. Ask yourself why you do not want to do this, what are you doing to complete what you started? What next step are you planning to take?
Reception for painful and unloved tasks — delegation
Answering questions can reveal an unobvious truth — perhaps the case you have taken on is not necessary for you. It does not correspond to life goals and desires, requires too much effort, disproportionate to the result, or irrelevant. In this case, it is possible and even desirable not to complete it. If you analyze the situation and decide that you will not do this, for your perception the task will no longer be unfinished. Closing the question, you can get the same effect as when finishing the case: it will no longer put pressure on you, you will feel an influx of energy.
The second technique for painful and unloved tasks is delegation. Learn to delegate what you can not finish to the end, to others.
Classify things by importance
Every day we are surrounded by hundreds of large and small cases. How do you know what to tackle right away and what to put off until later? A handy tool that allows you to quickly distribute cases is to divide the sheet into 4 parts. In each, enter the current tasks in order of their importance and urgency:
- upper left square — important and urgent;
- upper right square — important, but not urgent;
- lower left square — urgent, but not important;
- the lower right square is not urgent and not important.
If the unfinished business is divided into these four parts, then it will immediately become clear what needs to be done first and what can be tolerated until a more convenient time or even until the next day (week, month).
To deal with hung tasks even more effectively, follow the rules:
- Approach each case consciously and with concentration
- Finish things one by one
- Rest between tasks
Focus on what you are doing. Doing something on the machine, we do not fixate on the result, as a result, we get less pleasure and energy from completing the task. Therefore, you need to focus on what you are doing.
This rule follows logically from the first — if we are busy with several things at the same time, we cannot focus on any of them. Our attention is scattered, which means that we cannot fully evaluate the result. Give up multitasking, which in itself takes energy. Be clear about the beginning and end of each activity.
Relaxation after exertion is simply necessary, otherwise you risk immediately wasting energy. If there is no way to spend a little time on recreation or entertainment, change the type of activity. For example, after hard mental work, go in for sports, and after cleaning, read a book.
The most important thing is to find your own way to replenish energy. If for you this is the completion of all the things you have started, plan your time and distribute things according to their importance. And if you enjoy the process, fix your attention on it, not on the result. This will help you lead a more balanced life, relieve excess stress and give you the opportunity to discover new sources of energy.