Reframing Your Choice

Why It Matters?

Reframing your choices is important because it will help you prioritize tasks that offer long-term benefits over immediate gratification. While it is natural to be tempted by fun alternatives or feel like you do better under pressure, consistently choosing that approach may lead to last-minute stress and lower-quality work. Remember that we tend to underestimate how long projects or tasks will take and how much work will be required. When you reframe your choices, you can better manage your time, reduce procrastination, and achieve greater satisfaction from completing important tasks. 

How Do I Reframe Choices to Make My Work More Appealing? 

Consider the following 5 suggestions to help you prioritize your work. 

1. Consider what you might miss out on by choosing a more immediately gratifying activity over a productive one. Emphasize the positive outcomes of completing tasks early, such as reduced stress or more time to complete projects. Sometimes you cannot anticipate when you will need more time to complete something or may need some additional clarity on something until you get into the task. 
2. Determine if the process or goal of the task is caused by procrastination. If it is, shift your attention to the parts of the task that you might find enjoyable or less stressful.
3. Give yourself permission to take a break after a short period of time to make starting work seem less daunting. 
4. Share challenges with peers, friends, or family to help you stay accountable and receive emotional support and encouragement if and when needed.
5. Divide larger projects into smaller tasks and create deadlines; manageable chunks of work will still provide a sense of urgency. 

When Should I Apply These Strategies?

When you feel overwhelmed, procrastinate, or feel stuck, reframing your choices may be the best way to overcome your challenge or delay starting the work you need to do. 

Action:

Before starting your next task, or when you feel overwhelmed or want to delay starting your project, consider the opportunity cost when choosing between activities. That is, reframe your choices by emphasizing the positive outcomes of completing the tasks early. Start with small, simple tasks and take frequent breaks. The key is to get started on some part of the project or task that might be easier or enjoyable to you and set mini-deadlines to maintain pressure if that helps you work best. Remind yourself that we tend to underestimate how long projects or tasks will take and how much work will be required. So this will take some practice.