There was time during my office days, when I was occupied with multiple task. From handling team queries to managing client issues to management reporting. In between, I have look after my parents needs, then organising my other personal activites. No doubt, it took heavy toll on my mind and body. It was hell of a time, and I find myself overburden. Sometimes, I unable to decide or prioritize which one to handle. In my opinion, this is quite common to many individuals. Handling multiple tasks is not easy, and we may end up with stress or Task Paralysis.
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People might struggle to handle multiple tasks due to their brain's inability to effectively focus on more than one thing at a time. This often leads to decreased productivity, errors, and stress when attempting to "multitask". Such thing can be caused by factors like lack of job prioritization, poor time management, distractions, and not effectively switching between tasks, making it difficult to juggle multiple responsibilities simultaneously. Being at such situation I used to feel like paralysed with so many task. During one of the corporate well,being session, I learned about Task Paralysis.
Today being one such day, when I was pretty occupied with many things. It like grocery shopping, to attending a family gathering, to paddy threshing. All have to complete in a day, and once I felt that 24 hrs is too short to complete everything, because some of them require travelling. After so many years, I found myself to be office like situatio. But this time I avoided being taken by all the task.
In the midst of a whirlwind!
"Task paralysis" refers to a mental state where someone feels so overwhelmed by a task that they become unable to start or complete it. Often such situation leading to procrastination or avoidance of the task altogether. Such situation crops up in life, when our brain "freezes" in the face of a challenging task. Usually due to feeling unsure where to begin or fearing failure. Failure is what supposed to be the primary reason. Individuals unable to understand the situation, however one can easily notice task paralysis :
When experiencing task paralysis, we might feel frozen, unable to take any action towards completing the task.
This state often arises when faced with a large, complex task or a seemingly endless to-do list, causing a sense of being overloaded.
People with ADHD (Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder) frequently report experiencing task paralysis due to challenges with executive function, making it difficult to initiate tasks.
Thanks to the corporate well-being councelling session, I learned about these terminology.
Multitasking is a myth!
Getting frustrated, behaviourial issues and others were the obvious effects of the task paralysis. I remember, after well-being session I started managing the task in a pretty well mannered. Rather than feeling over burden and carried away with frustration level, I stared to schedule them by noting down on the to-do-list item. In between, I started taking small break in between to allow mind to refresh. Such little things do work in good direction. To avoid task paralysis, one can practices following things
Divide large tasks into smaller, more achievable steps to reduce overwhelm.
Identify the most important tasks and focus on those first.
Begin with the easiest or least daunting task to gain momentum.
Establish achievable and realistic targets to avoid feeling discouraged.
Use a timer to focus on a specific task for a set period. Also, we can note down to-do list to avoid missing out any task.
Eliminate environmental distractions like notifications and clutter.
A person needs to understand that rather than striving for flawlessness one should focus on completing the task. Do recognize that "done is better than perfect" A positive outlook towards the task is required. We need to remind ourself that you can accomplish the task. Pushing multiple tasks with the same due date can reinforce the feeling that we can not make a difference. Better plan and schedule the properly.
It is all about taking action on a smaller scale to overcome the feeling of being overwhelmed by a large project..