Belief
What is Belief (in doing a task)?
Belief is how you feel in your ability to do a task. You may believe a task is too hard for you, too complicated or even impossible.
How do you manage Belief?
In short, here are 3 different strategies for you to try: Spread the Task Out, Break the Task Down OR Consider if you are feeling Anxiety. These strategies are all explained in further detail under the tabs above.
How do you “Spread the Task Out”?
Spreading the Task Out means putting a certain amount of time into working on the task each day until the task is eventually completed. To help you do this, I have broken down the steps below:
Check if you have a Deadline
You can only spread a task out if you have time to do so. If you do have a deadline then you need to spread the task around it in order to meet the deadline. If you don’t have a deadline then you can spread the task out far more easily.
Work out how much needs doing
I have given myself the task of trying to read a book. This is a very long book of 828 pages and 29 chapters. I am not an avid book reader but I intend to read it all and I have no deadline to meet.
Give yourself the RIGHT amount of time to do it
I always give myself 1 hour before bed to read, this is because I have nothing left to do that might distract me. I also only give myself 1 hour for reading as it is not a big priority.
Decide how much you intend to do with the time given
I intend to read 1 chapter a night depending on how long each chapter is.
Work on part of the task and see how long it takes
I started reading chapter 1 which was 27 pages long. It took me just under an hour to read.
Adjust the time if necessary
As I had just about finished chapter 1 before my hour was up, I decided that it wasn’t worth reading the next chapter.
Keep repeating the previous 2 steps until the entire task is complete
The next night, I read chapter 2 which was 18 pages long. I checked the contents page which showed that chapter 3 was only 11 pages long so I decided as it was only a short chapter, it was worth reading now and so I read it even going past the hour I had set for myself.
How do you “Break the Task Down”?
If you find the task at hand too difficult or too complicated, then breaking the task down into smaller steps will make the task seem much more manageable. Rather than tackling the entire task whole, you can now focus each step of the task eventually completing it. To help you do this, I have (ironically) broken down the steps below:
Make a list of steps you need to do to complete the task
Once a month I like to dust down my bedroom, my whole bedroom. I made this list of everywhere that collects dust in my room (in my head): desk, chest of draws, 3 shelves, big bookcase, wardrobe, small bookcase, bedside draws, 2 mini draws and bedside table. A total of 10 areas to dust.
Prioritise them in order of importance, necessity or convenience
I prioritise the dusting by starting off with the wardrobe then continuing with the mini draws, table, desk, chest of draws, bedside draw, small bookcase, shelves and finishing off with the big bookcase. I do it in this order as it allows me to easily get around my room efficiently and effectively.
Do the most important or necessary step first
I always start off with the wardrobe as a necessity as I need a ladder to reach the top of the wardrobe where the dust collects. After dusting the top of the wardrobe, I can put the ladder away as I don’t need it to dust the rest of the room and this saves me an unnecessary task of putting the ladder away at the end of the dusting.
Work on each other step one at a time
After dusting the wardrobe, I work my way around the room dusting the next closest thing which is one of the mini drawers. Next to that is the table, next to that is the other mini drawer and so on. With each thing, I remove the stuff off it, dust it, replace the stuff and move on to the next thing until I have eventually dusted the entire room.
Break a big step down into even smaller steps
Some steps are quite big and for me the big step in the dusting task is my desk so I break this down into 2 smaller steps. First, I focus on the left half of the desk by removing the stuff and dusting there. Then, I remove the stuff on the right side of the desk, dust and the desk is done.
Combine this with Spreading the Task Out
Both Breaking it Down and Spreading the Task Out can be used together for a more effective strategy. This can be done by making a list of steps to complete the entire task and then spreading your time out completing each of these steps such as saying you will do some steps today and another few steps tomorrow so on and so forth until the task is complete.
Consider if you are feeling Anxiety
Although our beliefs in being able to do a task usually stem from how hard or complicated the task is, you may also struggle with a task because you feel afraid of failing it and failing other people because of it. If this is how you are feeling, then what you are feeling is called Anxiety.
How can I learn to manage “Anxiety”?
If you want to learn more about how to manage Anxiety, then click the link below to visit the ‘Anxiety Strategies’ page of our website.
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Believe in Trying
If there is something that everyone should believe in, believe in trying. Don’t allow you beliefs to prevent you from trying as trying something is the biggest step forward you can ever take in your life.