Help Me, Silly Goose! I’m stuck!!

Hello, flock! Welcome to another HELP ME SILLY GOOSE post!

Question:

Dear Silly Goose,

I have a hard time starting necessary tasks and tend to procrastinate to the point of panic. I get stuck in a distraction and can’t seem to force myself into doing what I need to do.

How do I get unstuck and start my responsibilities instead of causing myself to panic?

Sincerely,

Stuck

Hello Stuck, and welcome to the flock!

It sounds like your main issue here is transitioning from one task to another. Coincidentally, yours truly has suffered the same self-induced procrastination panic. While obtaining my degree in Psychology, I had a class (or two) that discussed making transitions easier for clients (assuming one with a Psychology degree will be working with clients/patients).

The first step to any task is starting. Let’s use an example. In order to take an effective shower, there are certain steps that must be taken. First, you need to turn on the water. The second you feel the little voice in your head squeaking about panicking, go turn the water on. Oftentimes, you will gain a little momentum and start the other steps naturally. If you don’t, take it one step at a time until you have finished the shower. Take off your clothes, have a towel ready, get in the shower, and the list goes on in a varying order from there.

Many times, transitioning from one task that’s enjoyable to another task that’s not enjoyable creates panic because of all the steps you can think of that go into the necessary task. That makes the task feel even BIGGER than it felt in the first place. So daunting!

Taking the upcoming task one step at a time is a way to make a slow, but still productive, transition from one task to another.

While I was still in college, I had to force myself to do homework. I was insanely motivated to get a high GPA, so one would think this wouldn’t be a problem. I seemed like a model student in class too. I always knew the answer and had tidy notes that people could take pictures of if they missed a day. What people couldn’t see was the fight to transition from facebooking and watching true crime shows to doing the work that was necessary to meet my expectations of myself. I slowly learned to take things one step at a time and transition from one task to another more slowly, which resulted in less procrastinating from one semester to another.

I hope this helps take you from Stuck to Unstuck.

Honks and Hugs,

Silly Goose