That Pesky Last Ten Percent
Hey friend—this newsletter is supported by readers like you. If you love it or find value from it, consider becoming a paid supporter! You’ll unlock every article in the archive and gain full access to the Member Resource Hub. One of the primary struggles with ADHD is finding that motivation to get started working on a task or project. Task initiation remains a constant struggle when we can’t seem to get started on that important looming project. Once we get going, we can often fly through that middle 80% of the project, like a train barreling down the tracks, we build this huge momentum behind us that makes it hard to stop. Until… it stops. …just short of the goal. Whether our motivation train stalls out completely with the finish line still in view, or we just keep extending the track in front of us by adding more “must-haves” to the project . . . it feels like we can’t quite finish those final touches that allow us to mark a task as complete. There are several psychological barriers that this situation so common for people with ADHD:
Strategies for Task CompletionSo what can we do when this happens? How can we make sure those projects that are oh-so-close get across the finish line? Just Ship ItIn app development, there’s a concept of just shipping an “MVP” (Minimum Viable Product, not Most Valuable Player) version of an app or new feature. This essentially means “do the easy, simple, crappy version that works and release it to users first and then improve it later.” While this won’t work for all tasks, this is great for something you know that you can continue to iterate and work on even after “shipping” or marking as complete. Often times I’ll think that certain features of a project are “absolute essential!” until I ship the MVP version without those features and realize I don’t actually care about them any more. 🙃 Break It Down (again)Treat the remaining part of the project as a brand new project. Consider that first 90% as a completed project and then take the remaining 10% as something new and break it into small tasks. Tip: each task should begin with an action verb: instead of just a vague task like “final video edits”, it might be:
By breaking it down again, it helps reset your brain and reduce the overwhelm and weight of the looming final tasks to be completed and lets you treat it as something new (that you can tackle again with the 4 Cs of Motivation!). RoleplaySimilar to the last strategy, just pretend that someone else did the first 90% and your job is to fix it and make it better! I did this a lot when writing my book - I would write the crappy version of a chapter, then pretend someone else wrote it and I was the editor that had to fix all their mistakes. Worked surprisingly well! Accountability and Body DoublingSometimes the best way to get the energy to focus on a task is to force it to happen! Find a friend that’s also struggling with task completion, set a timer and work simultaneously on that final 10%. High fives after a set amount of time, no matter the specific progress. What are some strategies you’ve tried for getting over that final 10% project? Stay curious, P.S. Just a last minute reminder for those that still have some shopping to do, I released this ADHD gift guide last week! This newsletter is supported by readers like you! Become a paid supporter to unlock every article in the archive and gain full access to the Member Resource Hub. |
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