Effects of completing a task
To support me, click the link here: Medium.com
I continuously struggle with completing a task. I started writing this article on December 9th, 2018, and have never completed it until this week. The inability to complete the task successfully is my worst nightmare. As a result, I have informed my friend, Lyn, that I will finish this piece and show it to her. This way, I am making myself accountable while gathering feedback.
What is the sense of completion?
The sense of completion is an internal voice rejoicing when we complete a simple task.
Different people have different meanings for a sense of completion. There are two factors to determine, self-efficacy, and purpose establishment.
Self-efficacy
According to Vincent Tinto, self-efficacy is “a person’s belief in their ability to succeed at a particular task or in a specific situation.” In other words, self-efficacy is a belief in your capabilities to organize and deal with the various challenges and succeed in prospective situations. Believing in self is the reason why many people succeed in tasks that others thought they would never achieve. For example, winning in a 100-meter sprint. Achievement doesn’t come to people with strong self-efficacy because a lot goes in to accomplish a task. A lot of work goes for that, practice hard, sacrifice time and energy and strategize with an open mind to win the sprint.
Fortunately, anyone can learn the art of self-efficacy. It is ever-changing and is not a fixed concept with which you are born. A person is most likely to achieve the goals due to their high self-efficacy. This type of person will stay true to the goal
To build self-efficacy, you have to be aware of the following items:
- Celebrate your success — You need to reinforce the positive aspects of your goal outcomes!
- Pay attention to your emotions — The more deeply your motivational system is engaged with the situation, the stronger your feelings towards a goal.
- Observe others — Researchers from MIT have found that we can learn better from observing other people’s experiences. In the research, a mouse was given shock with a cue such as a light or a tone while other mice observed the mouse’s effects. When the observer group of mice was exposed to the same signal a day after, the researchers concluded that the mice reacted with the same fear even though they had no prior experience of receiving a shock. The Anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and Basolateral amygdala (BLA) parts of our brain become active when we observe and learn. In this case, the observer group of mice observed a mouse’s experience and learned from its behavior on how to reach similar events. Have an idol whom you look up to and observe what they did well. Have mentors who can guide you to achieve the goal you want to reach. Learn from these figures while you carve your path.
Purpose establishment
What’s this all for? What are we working toward?
These two questions come in mind when establishing purpose. Self-efficacy plays a considerable role in determining the purpose. It is the driving force that allows you to guide through a difficult situation; however, with undefined purpose, there is nothing but a failure as the task you are trying to achieve has no reason to be done in the first place.
A definite purpose allowed Johnson and Johnson (J&J) to navigate through one of the most challenging healthcare issues, the Tylenol crisis of 1982. In this situation, the purpose of the company, which was established based on J&J’s credo decades ago, was challenged. In response to figure out the issue, J&J had recalled 31 million pills worth $100 million. When asked about the massive decision, Mr. Burke, then CEO, responded with, “We believe our first responsibility is to doctors, nurses, and patients; to mothers and fathers and all others who use our products and services.” The company weathered the Tylenol poisonings incident by being honest and defining the purpose of the company. To breakdown a little further, What’s this all for? It was all for doctors, nurses, patients, and parents who use J&J’s products. What are we working toward? The safety of product users.
Define a purpose for your actions. What is the reason for completing this particular thing? How can the goal be achieved and dive in! Do not stay in the planning phase for too long. Like what Elon musk said jokingly during CyberTruck unveil, “We’ll fix it in post.” Just get started, you will have an ample amount of time to recalculate and change the goals.
How does it benefit you?
With Self-efficacy, the idea is to believe in yourself as it is a powerful tool to motivate yourself. As addressed above, anyone can learn if you are keen to improve your motivation levels. Sometimes people are looking for a small push to complete a task. You can get the help of technology to push you or ask your friend or family to keep you on track to accomplish a task.
Belief in self is crucial, always. A positive mindset will attract like-minded people. I have continuously struggled to write this article, and I have thought to quit countless times, and I did. However, constant reminding from my to-do app and setting aside time for this task allowed me to focus and complete the article. The process I used is far from perfect, and I do see flaws, hence constant delay.
Since the purpose I have established was flawed, I have never sought out to complete my unfinished thoughts. So, what changed? Renewed focus and a new wave of inspiration from friends and families came to me. The purpose of this time is to publish a new video, article, or poems consistently. You may lose your focus and have a crisis if something doesn’t pan out, but you should remember, things will work out if you have a substantial purpose and desire to complete.
A study was done in the 1920s by Russian psychologist, Bluma Zeigarnik, related to completing tasks. In the study, the psychologist concluded that 80% of people remember uncompleted tasks far better than completed ones.
The Zeigarnik effect can be described as people remember negative feelings longer than the positive ones. In the same study, Zeigarnik found that only 12% of children remember completing the task when we consider only 50% of students were allowed to compete for the task. Incompletion can lead to uncomfortableness, dissatisfaction and distress. So, completing tasks as you will allow you to have a less stressful mental state.
What should you do to accomplish the daunting task?
Effectively, People can identify what they would like to change and how they would achieve the goal. I’m a good example as I am the worst person if you ask me to complete/finish any work. I believe that I am a highly organized and perfectionist type of person, a good trait, at the same time, a downfall for me if I am stuck somewhere. I love the fact that I do not adhere to other people’s principles and theories as often and like to organize and pave my path.
On the other hand, I am also the type of person who, when the tasks become boring, I glitch! I lose the motivation to wrap up the tasks I’ve planned. In 2018–2019, I used to journal everything in Microsoft OneNote, my to-dos ready in Wunderlist, and have my calendar up to date and focused. However, somewhere, something happened, and I lost the motivation to do those things the way I wanted to do.
It is normal, carry on!
When things get harder, we lose faith! Even the best one among ourselves stops believing their “solid” thesis and starts to glitch and lose motivation. It is normal, carry on! There are more things to do. Read that book that you always wanted to read but never finished after reading until page 7. Complete the drawing you always wanted to complete for the art competition. Write a poem that you find romantic for your loved one! Do not leave things unfinished. Put the thought out, if it is incomplete, I am sure someone will come to your rescue to give you the motivation to keep going.
I first started drafting this topic in 2018, do you feel the pain I went through? It’s one year and 4+ months while I am writing this. Why was I waiting to complete this article? The reason I feel pain is because I was supposed to finish this piece in 2018, and here I am struggling to finish. I am not sure what happened; I lost touch. That is seriously not good behaviour. My friend, Love, said, “Sense of completion can have diverse meanings; for me, it is waking up early, exercising, meditating and planning out the day.” It might seem like her life is sorted? Right? Actually no! The sense of belonging to my experience has brought us closer to each other. She continues, “I am unable to do this every day. But that’s okay because the idea is that you are consistent. It gives you self-worth” Be persistent in pursuing your goals, and you will achieve it.
“Itni Shiddat se maine tumhe paane ki koshish ki hai, ke har zarre ne mujhe tumse Milane ki saazish ki hai. Kehte hain ki…agar kisi cheez ko dil se chaaho to puri kayanat usey tumse milane ki koshish mein lag jaati hai.” — Shahrukh Khan — Om Shanti Om
People say that it is a romantic dialogue, but it fits very well here. An approach of strong self-efficacy allows people to conquer demanding tasks. If they fail, they recover quickly from setbacks because they have a definite purpose that comes to rescue. If they want something, they develop a more profound interest in the activities and create an intense sense of commitment in the businesses they find.
I hope that this article urges you to complete the things you’ve always wanted to accomplish.
If you want to talk about it? Add me on my Instagram at @iqbal.aytan or comment down below!