Why Labelling Tasks As 'Boring' Makes You Less Productive

Dive beneath the boredom and finally tick things off your to-do list

Photo by Kanashi on Unsplash

I noticed a common theme with my coaching clients when they avoided certain boring tasks. They became so distracted that it took up headspace, and wasted valuable time and energy.

They were also frustrated and their inner critic would nag away louder and louder as the procrastination grew.

Curiously, these tasks were often important for their business, so there was an additional level of confusion about why they kept brushing them off.

Their productivity would tank whilst downstream tasks were pushed further and further back, driving unnecessary stress and sometimes anger.

Boring tasks are subjective, for example, some people find analysing data dull, whereas others find it exciting and interesting.

There are also tasks that may become inherently boring and dull over time, such as washing the dishes or folding laundry - there isn’t much you can do to optimise the process.

These repetitive and low attention tasks benefit from making the environment more fun or interesting (play music, a podcast, background movie, for example), so this is a good approach to take to get them done.

Back to my coaching clients. I asked them one simple question about their boring tasks to dive deeper, and we discovered the boring label was masking much more.

Sometimes the toddler is right - just ask ‘why?’

My clients described their their blockers or frustrations during our sessions together.

They shared the distracting boring tasks they couldn’t get done, for example, reviewing grant application requirements or getting technology integrations set up for their website.

I probed further to understand what they had done to attempt closing the tasks out. They had several attempts but found it hard to start, or keep going even if they did start.

On listening to the descriptions, I realised there was more going on.

I finally asked my key question: “Why is the task boring to you?”.

Pretty simple, right?

They stopped and looked at me perplexed at this point.

They were used to dismissing these tasks as boring, but they hadn’t asked themselves what was boring about them.

We began to unpack the boringness and it was clear that these weren’t the standard repetitive tasks, even though they appeared to be at first.

As the conversations continued, I noticed the same few assumptions and themes arise in these situations.

Your boredom masks something else

During my coaching conversations, three main themes appeared where important tasks were labelled boring:

1. The task is too hard but it should be easy and/or done quickly and with low effort

2. The task is too basic and not worth time/effort

3. The outcome of the task is higher value and important, but the input effort of the task doesn’t match that reward

Let’s dive into these further:

1. The task is too hard but it should be easy - this one shows up a lot, especially in our overwhelming digital world.

   1. We get confused because we understand the concept of what we’re trying to do in simple terms, like set up a website landing page for a new offer.

   2. However, to get it done involves lots of steps and understanding different tools, or learning new techniques or skills. It seems like lot of effort.

   3. We get frustrated that we can’t do it as easily as we assume we should do. There is a mismatch between getting it done vs the simplicity of the solution in our heads.

   4. When we can’t start or persevere through the learning or set up, we beat ourselves up, dismiss the tasks and stop looking for solutions.

2. The task is too basic and not worth time/effort - this one is potentially more ego-related.

   1. We have beliefs that we shouldn’t spend our time doing certain things, e.g., admin tasks or reviewing feedback responses.

   2. If we can delegate these tasks, there is a time-saving fix. However, this masks situations where we are the only one who can complete them, even if we don’t want to.

   3. We need to dive deeper into this resistance and why we aren’t the right person to do it. Question whether this is true and if our unique traits are ignored.

3. The outcome of the task is higher value but doesn’t match the input effort - this shows up when actions take place outside your control after you complete the task, often in the background, that lead to a valuable outcome or reward.

   1. This is another one where we get confused with the effort in, reward out equation.

   2. The reward or outcome of completing the task is disproportionate to what we have to do to close out the initial task.

   3. This becomes overwhelming and we end up freezing to reduce the impact of not achieving the outcome we want.

   4. We minimise the task as boring to reduce the discomfort we feel at the possibility of not achieving the outcome.

By completing a deeper dive of what drove the boring label, my clients had a new understanding of their thoughts, assumptions and behaviours.

They believed they had made a logical assessment, but after further review, realised this was wrong and that they needed to change their approach.

Although this might seem disconcerting, having that insight was valuable to them.

It gave them a new avenue to problem-solve and they took a different approach to get the tasks done.

It’s a great example of not accepting the first answer you might give to a question, because the brain often jumps to conclusions to make sense of the world.

If the thought and behaviour seem out of sync, this is a useful cue to dive deeper.

Don’t brush off boring tasks — dive in and investigate

It’s easy to de-prioritise tasks by labelling them boring. But if you keep procrastinating or avoiding them, they become important blockers to progress

Accept there will be some discomfort at first - that said, it often doesn’t last, so you will persevere.

Your brain is often incorrectly predicting the payoff isn’t worth the effort, so retrain it to envision why you want to get it done.

Use the steps below to assess what’s behind your boring tasks and complete them:

1. Ask yourself why the task is boring, e.g., the grant application form is the same as before so it should be easy to do. I just can’t be bothered.

2. Look for any assumptions in your answers that are demands - ‘should be/must have/have to’, e.g., I should remember what I did last time, but I can’t so I have to go through all the work I did last time.

3. Question whether your assumption is helpful or unhelpful in getting the task done, e.g., thinking this isn’t helpful because the submission is complex and I can’t be expected to remember all of it.

4. Identify the benefits of completing the task, e.g., If I organise my email review and compare a previous version, it’ll go quicker and I can hit submit before the deadline.

5. Savour the feeling you’ll get when the task is done, e.g., it’ll be such a relief to tick this off my list, and the business will get the opportunity for more funding which opens up new opportunities.

6. Pick an approach to complete the task (or combine these too!):

   1. Break the task down to the simplest elements and commit to 2 minutes only to get started (i.e. trick your brain into making it super easy). Do this if you need to learn new skills as preparation to complete the task itself

   2. Timebox the slot needed to get the task done and put it in your calendar

   3. Delegate it - if suitable, pass the task on to someone else you trust

   4. Make it fun - crank up your favourite power ballad, gamify getting it done (i.e. treat it like a game), and make it more interesting

   5. Reward yourself with something valuable that doesn’t build an unhealthy habit

   6. Do it with others as external accountability is a great way to get task done, especially those you’ve been avoiding. Find or hire someone to do it with you or hold you accountable or teach you key skills you are missing

When you check your assumptions and how you’re labelling tasks, this changes how motivated you’ll be and whether you choose the right approach.

Work out what is going on beneath the boring label to create a simple strategy to complete tasks when you need to.🚀

Which tasks do you find boring and how will you complete them? Share in the comments below.

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