on a bad day when i make tea i see 11 steps 1) pour water into kettle 2) turn the kettle on 3) find mug 4) take out mug 5) find tea 6) take out a tea bag 7) put tea bag in mug 8) make sure the water doesn't reach boil [most teas need 90°C to brew well] 9) pour the water into the mug 10) don't forget to take the mug with you 11) don't forget to drink once it cools down

it's the same action, and on all days i can easily do 3 actions, the problem begins when those 3 actions start looking like 11 actions

[–] BlameTheAntifa@lemmy.world 23 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

The kettle needs water and I wasn’t mentally prepared for an extra step so I just give up.

[–] nixcamic@lemmy.world 20 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

It pisses me off so much when people are like "have you tried breaking up the task into smaller tasks?" Yes Janet, my brain has already broken the task up into infinite smaller tasks. That's the problem.

[–] lepinkainen@lemmy.world 7 points 2 weeks ago

Yes, Janet, I have tried 42 different task management systems to solve this issue =)

[–] I_Has_A_Hat@lemmy.world 18 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

You forgot 12) Put the tea away 13) put the kettle away 14) clean the mug 15) put the mug away.

[–] shneancy@lemmy.world 20 points 2 weeks ago

unfortunately for the future me those are considered fully optional

[–] lepinkainen@lemmy.world 9 points 2 weeks ago

It's the Coastline paradox: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coastline_paradox

Other people see just A and B. We start from A and get to B.

I see immediately that there are at least 5 more steps in between, and each of those can have multiple steps inside them. And until I've solved the maze of interconnected issues, I'm not going to start moving towards B because I might get stuck in the middle with an incomplete task.

[–] VubDapple@real.lemmy.fan 8 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

When breaking things down causes more overwhelm than it solves, have you found any strategy that does help?

[–] shneancy@lemmy.world 3 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

"no think, do" works, but it's hard to get into that mode. mindfulness sometimes helps but that's a habit and habits are hard

[–] VubDapple@real.lemmy.fan 1 points 2 weeks ago

Thanks for sharing.

[–] _stranger_@lemmy.world 5 points 2 weeks ago

You've articulated this perfectly.