Don’t Eat That Frog: 5 Strategies for Tackling Dreaded Tasks
spring peeper photo © John White - Virginia Herpetological Society
Sometimes, we all have to knock out tasks that we really don’t want to do. These aren’t long-term projects; rather, they’re unpleasant, one-off tasks like writing a difficult email, gathering tax documents, or dealing with your inbox—which you’re sure contains at least one overdue notice.
If you’re anything like me, the worst aspect of these tasks is how they destroy your life until they’re done. You can’t seem to make yourself do the thing, but it weighs on you every moment. You fret about it, worry about how you’ll ever do it, and wonder what it says about you that you can’t just write a simple email or empty your inbox. Mostly, you feel crippled by guilt about your failure to sit down and do the darn thing.
The common advice is to simply “eat the frog”: get up early and do that difficult task first, so the rest of your day will be easy by comparison. Maybe that’s good advice for some people. But as someone with ADHD, I’ve found that advice geared toward neurotypical folks isn’t merely unhelpful; it’s sometimes actively counterproductive. Plus, strategies that work perfectly on Monday often fail entirely on Tuesday. That means I need a toolbox full of options for how to approach tricky tasks.
Here are five of my favorite approaches for moving tough tasks off my to-do list.
5 ADHD-Friendly Strategies to Conquer Your Most Difficult Tasks
Next time someone tells you to “eat the frog,” try one of these methods instead.
Containerizing. This is a variant of time-blocking, a productivity strategy that involves setting aside blocks of time to focus on (and complete) each task on your list. Unfortunately, time-blocking doesn’t always translate to action because it doesn’t account for the mysterious nature of focus for the neurodiverse brain. If you’ve set aside three hours to update your budget but it takes you two hours to get any traction on that task, you’re going to run out of time before you finish.
Instead, limit your task-related suffering by containing it. Decide when you’re most likely to capture the right type of focus for this task, then block off a little time every day during that window to work on the difficult task. It’s often easier to start working when you know that you only have to do 30 minutes on any given day, and you might find that your brain gets faster every day at picking up where you left off. Most importantly, vow that you will not worry about the task between those times.
Recommended pairing: Body doubling. If you’ve ever found yourself staying on task better simply because you’re working alongside someone else, you’ve experienced the power of body doubling. The good news is that you don’t have to be working on the same thing and you don’t have to be in the same physical space. I use virtual body doubling all the time with Caveday (yes, that’s an affiliate link) and I highly recommend it.
Preparing to work. This is one of my favorite strategies. Think of it as sidling up to the difficult task, the same way you’d approach a skittish horse. Basically, you want to trick into thinking that you’re not actually going to do the difficult task yet; you’re just going to set it up for later. Think about what you’d need to do if you were doing the task. Don’t pressure yourself to actually take that step, simply ponder what it would look like if you did. Surprisingly often, this is all it takes for me to start something I’d been avoiding. See if it works for you, too!
Recommended pairing: Rewards. Give yourself a reward even if you don’t do anything other than prepare to do your difficult task. Yes, you’re sort of treating yourself like a dog that needs to be trained, but hey, classical conditioning works.
Constructive avoidance. Do you usually need to dance around a project for a while before you’re ready to start working on it? Constructive avoidance harnesses that tendency. Next time you have a difficult task, schedule at least one physical project first: weed a flowerbed, put away that stack of laundry, or finish staining the bookcase you stripped last year.
Actively working on something else helps you burn off energy so you can sit still and focus on your task later—plus it gives you a boost from making visible progress on another task and gives your brain time to start working on the task you’re (consciously) avoiding.
Recommended pairing: Preparing. If you need to sort out your thoughts before you can do your difficult task, spend a little time using the previous strategy, preparing, before you jump into one of your physical projects. That way your brain will have the information it needs to start figuring out solutions while your body is busy working.
Structured procrastination. This brilliant idea from John Perry involves finding a task that you want to do even less than your current dreaded task. Ideally, you’ll identify a few tasks that seem both urgent and important, though in reality they may be neither. Once you’ve put these monsters on your to-do list, you may find it quite easy to work on your original task as a means of avoiding the even-worse new tasks. Again, you’re relying on trickery, but as Perry notes, “virtually all procrastinators have excellent self-deceptive skills.”
Recommended pairing: Accountability. Most of us are more likely to do a task when we’ve told someone else we’re going to do it rather than just promising ourselves. Is there someone in your life who can—gently but firmly—hold you accountable for finishing the right tasks? If so, ask them to check in with you later. (If not, feel free to get in touch; we can talk about how I can help.)
Last-minute desperation. Proceed with caution—this is a risky tactic if you’re up against a serious deadline. Be especially careful if you’re not confident about how long your task will take. If you think you can time it right, though, this strategy turns the chaotic energy of a deadline in your favor. Rather than resisting and avoiding the work until the deadline, you’re going to purposefully ignore it until the actual last minute. If your task is due Friday at 5 p.m. and you need 90 minutes to do it, you’re not going to even think about it until Friday at 3:30 p.m.
Only try this if you can do it without feeling guilty until your designated start time, though. Otherwise, you’re going to be miserable all week.
Recommended pairing: Oppositional procrastination. This approach isn’t for everyone, but it might work for you if you loathe being told what to do. Tell yourself that you are not allowed to work on your task until the time you’ve designated. If you’re weird the way I am, you might find that you desperately want to defy that order—so much so that you finish the task early.
Have you tried any of these strategies? Do you have other favorites that I didn’t mention? I’d love to hear about them! Drop me a line and I’ll be in touch shortly.
