The 5-Minute Exercise to Overcome Task Anxiety

This 4-step process helps pinpoint anxious thoughts and take the tiniest action to overcome procrastination.

Aug 17, 2023

It turns out that beating procrastination has everything to do with managing our feelings and little with managing our time.

I used to think time-blocking tasks in google calendar was the missing piece to not procrastinate. But time management skills don’t address the core issue — task anxiety.

How we feel, think, and behave are all interconnected. If we have anxious thoughts, they form into anxious feelings that direct our behavior to seek comfort.

The better approach is to pinpoint our anxious thoughts and take the tiniest action to break our resistance.

I am going to give you a practical 5-minute exercise anytime you feel task anxiety is holding you back from starting. But first, we need to understand the source of our anxious thoughts.

The Three Most Common Sources of Task Anxiety

Some tasks elicit more anxious feelings and thoughts than others, and unsurprisingly are also the most meaningful to us.

These tasks lack structure, invoke fear, or lack accountability. Let’s define each and how they work to form feelings of anxiety that lead to task avoidance.

Unstructured

These types of task lack structure both in their nature and/or in the number of steps involved to complete.

Writing for me fits this category. It’s always an unstructured mess. Writing and then rewriting are the only steps that stay constant. Going from an idea to a draft to a published article is never a straight line.

A lack of clear direction is another characteristic of unstructured tasks. There are countless times when my boss gives me an assignment and I don’t even know where to begin.

Along with being messy and unclear, tasks can be complex. Complexity means challenging. It’s easy to tell ourselves not now because we feel the effort or energy needed is too great.

Conversely, getting used to doing challenging work is the most rewarding. Having to deal with messy, unclear, and hard makes you a rockstar at work or leads to mastery of a particular skill.

Fearful

The feeling of dread is the most common way procrastination overpowers us. It comes from fear of either ability or quality or both.

Unsure how it will turn out is an outcome-based fear. The finished product won’t live up to our lofty standards. This perfectionist mindset is the enemy of starting.

Lacking skill or knowledge is the other way we hold ourselves back. It’s usually why we waste time focusing on planning versus executing.

But if you shift your perspective, dread also means you picked the right project or task. If we never feel afraid, we might be only seeking things in our comfort zone.

Self-driven

Unless it is for work, school, or for others, we have to self-regulate these types of tasks. Without external forces means no consequences if we don’t start or finish.

You might catch yourself in the loop of continuously postponing a task, pushing it into the vagueness of next week. Rescheduling gives us the illusion of control. But we know the truth — we’re simply procrastinating.

This delay is like the sound of a leaky faucet at night while in bed. Letting it continue to drip takes precious mindshare.

The Learned Habit of Avoiding Discomfort

What causes us to feel anxious is one thing, but naming our feelings proves difficult because it’s a certain number of feelings and physical sensations. Even more, we don’t like sitting with them.

Procrastination comes from an automatic response. In a moment, we can go from task intention to avoidance. It is a learned behavior. Our response is triggered by wanting to have uncomfortable feelings dissipate quickly.

But there is a silver lining. Task anxiety is a house of cards. It falls apart the minute you start.

The Falling Cards Exercise to Start

Task anxiety is fragile like a house of cards. It looks unbeatable but once we take a closer look and take the tiniest action all the cards collapse.

This exercise only takes a piece of paper and 5 minutes. You can set a timer or use your intuition to go through each step.

This method will guide you to connect with your emotions, alter your thought pattern, and take an easy next action.

The exercise has a singular focus, the ability to start the task. We are focused on starting because research shows we overrate how it’s going to feel when we work on the task.

Step 1: Prime your Environment

Since starting is the goal, we have to be ready to get going on the task. Be at your desk. Have your computer turned on, open the PowerPoint, etc.

Step 2: Clarify the Task

Grab a piece of paper and a writing utensil. Doing this on paper prevents distractions and writing too fast.

Now write the task you want to get started. Now rewrite it but this time with the precise task.

In a previous session, I jotted down “Write article” which is vague and not actionable.

I then wrote “Write an intro paragraph for the next 60 minutes”

We know the benefits of breaking tasks into manageable pieces but rarely do we do it moments before starting.

Step 3: Label Your Anxiety

Take a few deep breaths. Focus on the task. Which type of task is causing the anxiety? Feel into the anxiety. Try to label it. Jot down a few words.

I used the words “doubtful” and “uneasy” when I was getting ready to write.

This is the hardest part of the exercise. We tend to ignore our feelings. Pinpointing and sitting with the feeling is uncomfortable but necessary.

Now accept what you are feeling. You are about to embark on doing something hard. What you are feeling is rational. All of us feel this way.

Step 4: Make it Easy to Just Start

Consider the precise task and break it down to the easiest and simplest next action to start. Narrow your focus to 10 minutes. This is the sweet spot to make it attainable but also feel short and easy.

Writing an article is impossible. Writing a paragraph is daunting. Writing a decent sentence in 10 minutes is easy.

For my session, my next action was “ Read my intro paragraph and then write one sentence for the next paragraph.”

That is enough momentum to begin. And as you probably guessed starting momentum is a Jedi mind trick. You will go longer than 10 minutes.

A few finer points on the exercise:

I find this exercise works 70 to 80% of the time for me.
If you get an urge to start at any point, do so. Don’t wait. Overcoming task anxiety is more art than science.
The more you practice the better you get at understanding how feelings are fleeting. How you feel now isn’t how you will feel moments later when you start.

When Procrastination is the Right Approach

Most of us need starting momentum to tackle our tasks. And this exercise does a good job of assisting you.

But keep in mind it doesn’t make the task easier. No exercise or method can substitute for a hard effort.

There are times when you start a task and you will get feelings of frustration. Sometimes grinding away is the right approach but other times quitting to fight another day is the better alternative.

It sounds counterintuitive but procrastination is a necessary ingredient for productivity. If you set expectations you should never procrastinate, you will be disheartened.

Is it reasonable to always feel happy? Definitely not. The same goes for productivity.

Procrastinating is a healthy coping method in moderation. But when we overindulge it gives us a life of regret.

It’s Never Too Late to Start

We have all been there. A deadline is approaching and it kicks us into panic mode to start. Writer Tim Urban talks extensively about this habit.

But there is no such thing as personal accountability. The panic monster never comes for our personal goals. This is why using the “falling cards” exercise can help overcome procrastination.

Without a method to address our feelings, we’ll keep assigning our procrastination to a lack of time or motivation instead of our anxious thoughts.

Unfilled life goals create nagging open loops in our minds, leaving us feeling like it’s “too late” to start. But this mantra is another source of task anxiety.

Forward Thinking

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