If the bigger picture paralyses you, do this to get unstuck and take action
Coaching case study: pick the first domino in the chain to get the job done
1. Working with big picture people
One of my coaching clients struggled with procrastination on simple tasks.
This had a knock-on impact on bigger deadlines that had to be met and were approaching fast.
It built frustration, negativity and guilt in their daily life.
After our first session, they understood why they were paralysed over small tasks and a used practical technique to take action.
I love working with business owners. They are often big picture and join-the-dot types of people - visionaries.
The ability to put yourself out there and provide goods or services without the safety net of a bigger organisation behind you takes courage.
It can get overwhelming however.
Overwhelm appears where you struggle to narrow your focus to simple steps.
You can’t stop seeing the bigger connections, picture, and implications of each step.
It’s like a tsunami. It keeps coming, and coming, and coming.
This is often what anxiety feels like. You run through scenarios and ‘what-ifs’ and never-ending decision trees.
That’s useful if you’re running risk-based probability models for business.
It’s exhausting when your brain does it all the time with no resolution.
My client wanted to get unstuck on a simple task - sending an email - that would get them additional funding.
They knew what they had to do.
It wasn’t super complicated. It just needed focused time and some preparation by referencing a previous submission.
They just couldn’t get it done. The deadline was approaching and they found every distraction they could.
Then the guilt of not doing it kicked in which made it even harder to get started.
When it comes to procrastination, we often spend more time delaying the task, worrying about the task, and not doing the task than it would take to get the task done.
I’ve noticed this happens when our perceived energy to do something doesn’t match the scale of the task itself - because of ‘hidden’ dependent or subsequent tasks.
Here’s an example:
You need to put the bins out for bin collection day - simple enough task
But for this, you need to sort the recycling out for the recycling bin - this means getting bags ready, going around the house to collect recyclable items, sorting them, and bagging them (unless you do this as you go - well done!)
Suddenly, ‘put the bins out’ which is taking a bag outside and putting it in a bin, turns into a longer string of activities that each have their own set of inter-dependencies
Our brains aren’t taking just the first task into consideration. They’re also thinking about the subsequent tasks, dependencies, and activities that will flow off the first one.
Adapting the concept of the Domino Effect1, I call this ‘Domino Brain’.
To ensure your body budget has enough energy to do all those other tasks, we falsely think ‘OK, that’s too much, I’m just going to stay here and not do it’.
That kicks off a bit of relief that the effort isn’t going to be spent, and we temporarily feel better.
Delaying is rewarded.
Then we remember the task still needs to be done. The cycle restarts.
If there is a deadline, you have even less time to get it done so the perceived effort required the next time goes up.
And so it goes on and on, until we push ourselves to do it eventually.
The amount of cognitive and emotional energy that has gone into that budgeting activity though is exhausting.
We train ourselves that even simple tasks aren’t really simple.
2. The coaching session
My client was self-aware and gave a good overview of their situation at the start of our session.
They described the struggle they had with getting this email sent - frustration, anxiety, lack of focus.
Their inner critic thoughts had a field day - why are you so lazy, why can’t you get this simple thing done?, what’s the point of doing it anyway - it probably won’t be successful?
And on and on.
I explored their approach to getting tasks done and went deeper into what they needed to do to get the email sent.
Hearing my client speak and describe the process and blockers helped me notice the Domino Brain kicking in.
I kept hearing ‘oh but then I have to do this first’ or ‘but then that will mean I have to do this off the back of that’.
There was a lot of focus on the dependent tasks and subsequent tasks.
The description of the task itself - send an email - was not very detailed.
I explained the concept of the Domino Brain to my client and something clicked.
They realised they always saw the bigger picture and got distracted by the 10 steps up and down the line.
It often paralysed them because they felt overwhelmed and frustrated.
But once they realised what was going on, they started to ease.
I asked them to reflect back on ‘send the email’ task.
Then I asked them to go all the way back to the very first small step that needs to happen to achieve that.
They replied with an activity that still didn’t sound like the first step. They mentioned searching for a previous email to use as a template.
I asked them how they would access their email.
They replied ‘On my laptop’.
I then reminded them of picking the very first step - could it be related to getting the laptop?
They realised what I was asking them. I was asking my client to break down the task into much smaller unit tasks that didn’t need further dependencies.
‘Get my laptop’. That’s a discrete task. There aren’t many dependencies to distract.
We kept going.
‘Open email app’. That’s a discrete task.
‘Search for previous email’. That’s a discrete task.
You see the pattern. The trick is to break down what seems like a simple task, into the discrete steps needed to get it done.
You can’t get distracted and stop.
Back to our ‘put out the bins’ example:
Get a recycling bag. That’s a discrete task.
Go to kitchen. That’s a discrete task.
Fill recycling bag with cardboard. That’s a discrete task.
Etc etc etc
This technique tells our brain we only need enough body budget and effort to do the immediate first step. It’s a discrete task with an outcome.
Then you string this onto the next discrete task.
Before you know it, you’re building momentum and getting things done.
This behavioural activation - taking action which builds motivation - helps minimise overwhelm and is achievable.
Trying to build motivation and then take action is much harder - see Domino Brain above!
My client felt much more positive towards the end of our session.
They agreed to write down all the discrete steps onto a post-it next to their laptop so they knew what to do and didn’t get distracted.
In our next session, they described how they got the email done after setting aside time in their calendar for it.
They’d broken down all the steps so it wasn’t overwhelming, and they knew each step on its own was achievable.
It built their confidence.
3. Break it down to discrete tasks
My client was able to build on this approach to get other activities completed. Some were related to their business but others were related to life admin.
They key is to understand what is getting in your way.
Perhaps:
You need to learn something.
You need to get organised.
You need to communicate with someone.
But break it down to the most simple, discrete task to get past your blocker.
Give your brain the chance to allocate enough energy to get it done.
If you notice the ‘simple task’ still feels like too much effort, explore what else is going on as a dependency or subsequent task.
At an unconscious level, your brain has calculated those other steps and it’s convincing you that there isn’t enough energy to go around.
So dig deeper, write out the discrete tasks and focus on each one alone.
Give it a go and you’ll get more done before you know it! 🚀
Let me know what you're keen to learn or talk about in the comments or on chat.
This is your space too, so let's enjoy it together.
Take care,
Sabrina Ahmed
Burnout Coach | Neuroscientist | Art-based Practitioner