Thank you all who responded to my Discussion Board!
In today’s society, countless people have many tasks that need to be completed every day. These tasks come together to form a huge “rock”, and we are overwhelmed by this “rock”. We want to push the “rock” but we don’t know where to start. This article is like a lever to pry up this rock, to give us a new idea to solve these tasks, so that we can free ourselves.
I picked this article up from New York Time. The article is “How to Save Yourself From ‘Task Paralysis'” by Dana G. Smith, a psychologist with a Ph. Dana G. Smith is a psychologist and author with a decade of experience in health and science. She has written extensively about Neoconiosis, mental health, microbiota, and more for The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Guardian, Scientific American, and others.
The article tells us why we experience a sense of “helplessness” when there are too many tasks or when the tasks are too important. This feeling of helplessness is like a threat that causes our brain to “freeze” and lose control. When the brain is out of control, we can’t deal with any problems, and even if we do, we can’t meet expectations, which can greatly affect our psychology. The article also provides us with some ways to solve the “freeze”. We can break down the task into smaller tasks and complete them to achieve success as a way to motivate ourselves. But before doing so, we also need to eliminate distractions, eliminate the instability that affects their focus, and set a time limit for themselves.
After reading this article, I have three questions for you to discuss. If you have any curious questions you can also ask, or any improvements to my questions can also be proposed, feel free to leave a comment.
- When was the most impressive “Task Paralysis” you’ve ever had?
- How do you feel when you are overloaded with tasks. Desperate, annoyed, nervous or excited, or some other feeling?
- In addition to the three methods proposed in the article, can you think of some other ways to solve these overload tasks?
13 replies on “Discussion Board”
Hello, zhiling, thanks for your blog. It really talk about the problem that I having right now. I am a very anxious person, and there are many tasks and exams in college life that you can’t handle. Although I don’t like to put it off until the last day, but looking at the due day of various homework in the schedule makes me feel powerless. There is a feeling of not being able to start, this uneasy feeling will keep me awake, I have to make a to-do list in my mind, and make a detailed plan very clearly so that I know how I can complete these tasks. That way I can relax a little bit.
I have anxiety as well, and college has made it so much worse that occasionally I become afraid and wonder whether I’ll be able to endure college. According to the article, in order to make it feel less daunting, I should give myself a small pep talk by telling myself that I can do it. I understand the feeling of just being unable to accomplish anything when there are already tasks listed on the semester’s syllabus, but seeing them all makes me apprehensive since I know that I will also have additional things on my list.
Indeed, too many tasks are like too many files, overloading our brains to function. I even get headaches when too many tasks cause too much stress. Making a task list is a good way to cope with too many tasks and prioritize the ones closer to Due day to reduce the load.
My first semester was super stressful because I am not used to time management and managing my own schedule. It took a while for me to get used to the workload. I think a planner really helps out a lot because it can help me sort out, what item is due on what day and the quizzes and tests that are gonna happen soon.
Talking about task paralysis reminds me of some bad memories. As for the most impressive one, I don’t think I have one; however, I did feel stressed out last week. I bought an iPad for myself as a gift for no reason, and I need to re-write my notes from other classes into the GoodNotes on my iPad (I don’t have to, kind of OCD I would say, but I actually enjoy organizing notes a lot). Meanwhile, I need to prepare the valentine’s program for the church’s fellowship. The ACC recording lecture, hw, SAM project, and the most boring and annoying–reading textbooks–just came to me at the same time. Now everything is done and I realized I don’t have to rush. The nervous is mainly internal and spiritual. As long as you start working on it, you would get there. Humans can never be comfortable if I’m alive; I mean don’t let feelings drive your actions.
Here is my method for the overload work: I list the tasks in priority and do the one due the latest first, so you have to finish the others probably due tonight or tmr–there is no excuse for it, points or relaxes is all up to you. If you do these tasks in order, you might feel you keep everything in hand perfectly, but this catalyzes your procrastination.
However, your approach to the overload work seems wonderful, and if I use it, it will help me improve my organizing abilities. I do acknowledge that I occasionally submit stuff late, but I’m trying to work on getting better at it. Now that I am in college everything is different than high school and now being an adult and not prioritizing things that have to be done firs can make me have consequences that I have to try fixing. I am trying to work on myself to gain skills that will help me be a better adult that makes better critical decisions.
Indeed, don’t let your emotions dictate your behavior. If we constantly worry about how difficult a task is, how much time I have to finish it, etc., it actually weakens our ability and focus to complete the task. Because we have too many bad emotions, it will affect our thinking, the more think more chaotic but not more efficient to relax
The most amazing case of “Task Paralysis” I’ve ever had was a building model that I had to finish in order to submit the best version. I majored in architecture in high school, which required me to complete a project using the equipment. Although I had begun the project a few days before, I put off finishing it since I had other priorities. When I realized I only had one day left, I also realized that the general concept I had in mind for the project’s outline was not yet complete. However, when I reflect on it now, I did not really work on the outline of the design because the idea of the tasks is what stopped me. I thought of the project as if I could just leave the hardest tasks for last and not work on them little by little before the deadline. When I am overloaded with tasks I mostly feel nervous but sometimes also desperate because as the article said that just the thought of having to complete the big critical tasks will require more from me and I am scared that I will not be enough to get a good grade. I think that just learning to be organized without procrastination is something that will help with task paralysis.
Agree, when you facing a great project, you will realize there are many work to do and afraid there has not enough time to finish. You brain already told that is difficult even though you not stared yet. It’s a psychological burden. Also you would care about the grade, consider too much would caused a lot of negative energy.
I also have the same problem with leaving the hardest work until the end and then feeling overwhelmed when it is close to the deadline. One thing that I struggle with is keeping in mind the small assignment that I need to finish that day. I would feel stressed, but I think it’s better to spilt up the big assignment in your planner. So that way you can finish little by little and won’t feel so overwhelmed by the end of it.
When discussing task parallelism, it is undoubtedly my homework and study during college. Especially in the first semester of university, because the epidemic was the reason before, online classes at home made my enthusiasm very poor. Basically, I submit every assignment before the deadline. This makes me more and more anxious. Whenever I see the release date of homework getting closer, I feel a sense of powerlessness. In the end, the task will only be completed later and later. Thank you for letting me see this article, which is very helpful to overcome my work anxiety.
I am the type of person to start a new year resolution by telling myself, I shall finish my work early on. Then a week later, I will be procrastinating on all my assignments. When the due dates are all closing in, I get super stress out and afraid that I won’t finish my work in time. I get very nervous. However, once I start finishing my work one by one, I would feel very accomplished. This happens often before the midterms when I am behind on studying. So now, I try to take it little by little and try to do at least something a day for like 1 hr or 2hr. So I can study a little and not to be left behind.
The sense of accomplishment that comes from completing a task is truly unparalleled, and it motivates us to take on or complete more tasks. Especially when you complete a very difficult task, you will even be very excited, which will make you feel that you can even complete a more difficult task. This psychological effect can motivate us to complete these excessive tasks.