If you had to name a couple tasks you have started but not finished, what would they be and Why?

[SimplyWandering]

1) If you had to name a couple tasks/things you have started but not finished, what would they be?

2) Why do you think it is that you have not completed them?

3) What can you do to ensure that you complete this task?


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My snipped:
For me I have struggled with organization my whole life and till this day ill leave piles of junk all over the place.

Why is this? Could be the overwhelming stress of doing this task: thinking of where to put the items, do i have places to put them in,how will i organize them, constantly telling myself ill do it later and set alarms to remind me that always go unfinished.

I feel like this disorganization was always a problem that lead to having issues with completing tasks, even in college.

What can i do about?
Try and devote an hour a day to cleaning. I know setting alarms will not work for me, so what will?
Maybe a self- imposed reward or punishment.

Then i have to make sure i follow through on it...

 

[BraidedPony]

You just described me and what I go through. I think, for me, it is a deficit in an executive function called task initiation.
I haven't made much progress but it helps me to break up tasks into tiny steps.
For example if I need to fold laundry:
step 1: put away undies.
step 2: sort and put away socks.
step 3: fold tee shirts and stack on bed.
step 4: put away folded tees.
There is time between steps to play games on my iPad, chat, pr watch tv.

 

[Saphira]

A daily plan might help.

This came from a learning support teacher at college some years ago.

You only need to devote small amounts of time to tasks which all add up at the end of the week.

Smaller goals are easier to make and achieve.

Having said this I am cluttered and a hoarder so I struggle with having too many things.

 

[Creep]

1) If you had to name a couple tasks/things you have started but not finished, what would they be?

2) Why do you think it is that you have not completed them?

3) What can you do to ensure that you complete this task?


--------/---/---/---------
My snipped:
For me I have struggled with organization my whole life and till this day ill leave piles of junk all over the place.

Why is this? Could be the overwhelming stress of doing this task: thinking of where to put the items, do i have places to put them in,how will i organize them, constantly telling myself ill do it later and set alarms to remind me that always go unfinished.

I feel like this disorganization was always a problem that lead to having issues with completing tasks, even in college.

What can i do about?
Try and devote an hour a day to cleaning. I know setting alarms will not work for me, so what will?
Maybe a self- imposed reward or punishment.

Then i have to make sure i follow through on it...

List only a couple of things I haven’t finished?! For one, I keep meaning to clean my desk, but... I have an attachment to papers. For two, I have many knitting projects unfinished because I like to make up patterns as I go, so I put them down when I get stuck & I’m unsure how to proceed.

Setting timers (15 minute increments) does help me with cleaning. As far as knitting, I’m okay with not finishing everything since I have such an experimental process.

Good question!

 

[HidinginPlainSight]

ADHD here, so this list could get pretty long, but I suppose what I would like to finish but never seem to are the dioramas that I make. I have a perfectionist urge for detail sometimes and if something isn't looking exactly how I want in my mind I get a mental block from moving on. As a result I start another one and plan to come back when I figure out a way to resolve the imperfection.

Also, often I have trouble finishing books, with little trouble starting new ones before others are complete. I actually do get around to finishing them but it takes more effort than it should and I don't understand why toward the end it gets so laborious for subjects I like to read about.

Lots of work related stuff too, which I'm sure endears me to my managers.

 

[Magna]

The story of my life is starting tasks and moving on before I finish them. I think I'm ADHD as a co-morbid to my autism.

 

[Progster]

Household chores, either because I outright forget to do them, because I find it hard to motivate myself to starting and finishing them, or because I get distracted by other stuff going on and I just forget, especially when I have a lot of tasks that need doing, or when I have a task that needs to be done in stages. It helps to break them down into smaller sections and do one section at a time.

Right now I'm supposed to be going to start cooking, but instead I'm sitting here writing. I find it hard to stop doing one task to start another at times because I can get so absorbed in what I'm doing.

 

[Mia]

Big projects that seem overwhelming to even start. Outdoor railings need to be scraped and primed and repainted. Something I'm loathe to do. Big projects that last for weeks depress me. I'd rather they were quickly done.

Just finished repairing two massive oak doors, refinishing them, sanding quadruple times. I'm finished with the project and I can't look at them anymore. And I still have to remount them with help, as the doors are far too heavy to lift alone.

My biggest problem is distraction. I tend to prioritize things like meals and exercise and care of my pets over most other things. And the projects sit there for weeks/months/years until I work up the impetus to get back to them. Several paintings sit there, unfinished, for years. Yet with each unfinished one there was a problem of some sort that I was unable to see beyond. I have completed other work, two pieces, yet those unfinished ones mock me.

When I moved here, I found several projects that my Gram had not completed. A braided rug, with a knitted braid of wool that was meters long, I hand sewed it all together and now have a beautiful rug which one of my cats claimed as her own immediately. She has several cat beds, but this is now her one and only sleeping area. Another was a tweed jacket, which I also finished, it only required the finishing of buttonholes and some buttons. I suspect that she stopped doing those things as her eyesight failed. So, unfinished projects can have many causes, as peoples lives change.

 

[Hylian]

I have ADHD and always have issues completing tasks. Even simple things like drawings end up unfinished, and I'll even get almost done with video games and then not play them for months. No task will go un-unfinished. lol

 

[Thinx]

Mostly I don't get the potential tasks out of the planning stage, so they aren't so much unfinished, as never actually started. On the whole that's possibly a good thing.

Cleaning or tidying are tasks I don't find it easy to start or finish. My best strategy is to divide the task up, allocating time slots to areas of a room or part of the house, for example, then gradually getting it done. I have done pretty well with that strategy. If I keep the time slot to an hour or less, I don't get discouraged, but can see the difference I'm making.

 

[Misery]

"A couple"?

I can barely remember the one I'm currently doing!

...Am I doing one?

 

[SusanLR]

Household chores in general.
I find it difficult to get the incentive.
Some days I have legit excuses due to fibromyalgia. The pain is depressing and that stops the incentive.
Things get piled or laying around not getting done, like cleaning out a closet or decluttering tables or desks.

Each day when I get up, depending on how I feel physically, I pick a project for the day.
Break it down into small increments. Don't keep working past alloted time for each piece of the task.
I feel more like going on to the next after a break.
Quit when time is up even if I didn't get it all done. Make finishing the task next days project and if
it doesn't take long to finish, I have another area to begin.
If I don't finish what I left from the day before, it may lay there for who knows how long.
When it is completed I get a sense of satisfaction which is my reward.

Larger to do lists like painting or fixing something about the house I can do as a DIY project
are put on the back burner, but, even if I know they may never be totally completed, I do find time to
work on those areas at a slower rate. I'll get around to them eventually.

 

[Major Tom]

I have a hard time finishing almost everything I start. I usually end up cobbling something together in the end that I know I could have done better. It's kind of my thing and it drives a lot of people who know me nuts.