Mind Trick: Task Completion Visualization
By Tana M. Mann Easton, Lead Efficiency Engineer
In my last blog post, I talked about a mind trick that I perform when my energy is waning but I still have items left on my to do list for the day. The trick is to move the task on my list to tomorrow, and then I get a jolt of energy thinking of doing it today, which is now ahead of schedule. This isn’t the only mind trick that I use to manipulate my energy however. If that maneuver doesn’t work, my next step will usually be to visualize myself completing the task.
For example, I was packing up my Christmas decorations in early January. I do a lot of decorating for Christmas, so putting the decorations away takes quite a few hours. I had one last bit of packing up to do, and it was my least favorite part of Christmas clean-up…packing away the Christmas village pieces. I enjoy my Christmas village pieces immensely, once they’re out and displayed. I don’t really enjoy unpacking and packing them. The mixture of having to carry multiple boxes up and down stairs, dealing with flaking Styrofoam pieces that stick to everything incessantly, choreographing the electrical cords so that everything lights up, then trying to stuff those electrical cords back in the too small spaces for them in the storage boxes when the season is over makes the Christmas village my last station to clean up every year.
The day when I was supposed to clean it up, my brain and energy level did not want to cooperate. There was a lot of complaining in my head when I was looking at those village pieces. I considered putting it off until a later time, but I knew my brain would also keep thinking about them and leech energy from me until I got it done. So I took a minute and visualized what I would feel like and what it would look like for the pieces to be put away. My house would then be completely cleaned up of Christmas decorations. Everything would feel clean and spacious. I’d be able to focus on relaxing and being with my family with that big project done for the year. I felt myself feel lighter and accomplished.
I then visualized the steps that would need to happen in order for me to be done with that task. I saw myself taking trips up and down the stairs to get the empty boxes, taking those boxes to the pieces and systematically putting each piece away, taking the full boxes back down to storage, and then doing a quick dust and vacuum session around that area. All of those steps now felt doable to me. My body awarded me a hit of energy, and I was off and running. Once I was done, I felt accomplished and the house felt open and clean, just as I imagined it would. I fully relaxed the rest of the day knowing that I completed that last piece of a big project. So if you ever feel like you can’t complete your task list, consider visualizing how you will feel once the tasks are complete and the steps it would take to get there. For me, simply taking one minute to play the scenario out in my mind will often help me to take my task list all the way to completion.
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Productively Yours,
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