TASK INITIATION SKILL AS AN EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING SKILL- The Greatest Enemy of Procrastination.

 

TASK INITIATION SKILL AS AN EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING SKILL- The Greatest Enemy of Procrastination.

It’s 9.00 am and you are just leaving your daughter’s room which is in such a big mess, and you have asked her to clean up the mess and do her laundry. You are angry yet you are trying hard to remain calm. She promised to get on to it right at that instant. Fast forward to 4 hours later, the room is still in the same state, now you are furious and scream at her to get on with it. She gives you a barely audible yet lame excuse why she has not yet started and promises to get to it immediately. You have an errand to run and you step out of the house only to return by 7 pm and meet her room in the same state it was when you left. Now you are raving mad, you can’t hold it down anymore, you let your tongue loose, spewing all manner of invectives and all she could do is stare at you with a look that says, “I kept trying to get on with it but I just couldn’t go past trying to do it to actually doing it”. Does this scenario sound familiar? Dealing with kids who are always “wanting to” but never getting around to actually “doing it” can be quite frustrating.  

However, do you know that you are not alone on this boat? A lot of children and even adults also struggle with the challenge of never being able to initiate a task and it is because they lack task initiation skills.

WHAT IS TASK INITIATION SKILL?

Task Initiation skill is one of the executive functioning skills that simply refers to the capacity or ability to start a task or project, independently, promptly, effectively, and without procrastination. One of the hardest parts of achieving a goal is the onset of the execution stage. The beginning or the starting. Willing yourself to start a project/assignment or task is a significant sign that the goal will be achieved.

Getting on with doing homework promptly without being told to do so, cleaning his room without any reminders, reading in preparation for an exam, or leaving a desirable activity like watching Television to go and attend to an undesirable activity like doing the dishes without fussing is an indication that a child possesses task initiation skills. A child might be unwilling to initiate a task due to a variety of reasons such as a feeling of being overwhelmed by the task, or the fact that he is not interested in that particular activity. It could also be because he doesn’t understand how to go about carrying out the activity or because of low IQ or brain development. However, for our discussion, we are looking at task initiation from the angle of deficiency in executive functioning skills. If you want to know more about executive functioning skills read it up here

Task Initiation Skill Is Highly Important For The Following Reasons.

a.       It is essential to creativity and innovation. To create something, you must first begin. A lot of creative ideas just end up as ideas because those who conceived the ideas never moved beyond the ideation stage to the execution stage.

b.      It is vital to academic excellence. Class assignments and projects require task initiation skills to be done promptly and effectively

c.       It helps to avoid procrastination which Barbara Corcoran aptly said is the enemy of success.

d.      It helps to improve problem-solving skill

e.      It promotes productivity and general success in life

f.        It reduces friction between you and your child and helps you parent with greater ease because there is lesser yelling and nagging to get things done

g.       It boosts self-confidence and self-worth

  

Activities and Processes That Can Help Teach Children Task Initiation Skill.

a.       Teach them about task initiation skills highlighting the consequences of lack of it, promoting the gains of its prompt and efficient application, and guiding them through its acquisition and application.

b.      Create an enabling environment to help your child start tasks and initiate projects. Giving your child a picture showing how the project will look when completed or providing a step-by-step guide required to complete the project can be a great motivation to start the project. Eliminating distractions from their workspace is also a good way to go.

 

c.       Offer a reward for successful task completion. Attaching value to a task most times creates a stronger desire in the child to start and finish the task. The reward could be an outing together, a gift, a special treat, etc.

d.      Create a routine. You can write out a list of activities or the tasks that the child is expected to carry out in the order in which it is to be done, this helps to give clarity and motivation to carry out the assignments. You can also teach them to draw up this list of activities on their own.

e.      Give as much encouragement as they need and also let them know that it is human too to sometimes want to procrastinate on assignments and that it doesn’t make you a failure. Share personal stories of your struggles with task initiation and procrastination if you have any and tell them how you were able to overcome them.

f.        Encourage them to identify and work with friends and peers who provide them with the needed push to initiate a task.

g.       Also help them build emotional control as most times unwillingness to begin a task could be traced to the emotional state of the child. A child who is feeling sad, angry, or even anxious will most times avoid tasks or push them forward. So helping the child identify and deal with the trigger of the emotional stress can help to put the child in a better frame of mind to initiate his tasks.

h.      Make it fun by making tasks look like a playful competition. For instance, you can tell them that the first person to finish this assignment is the greatest champion of all time. This works well for younger children as they will quickly start the task just to clinch that “prestigious” title

i.         Stick it notes that remind them of the assignments and tasks to be completed can also help to motivate them to start

j.        Games like “Red light, Green light”, “Simon says stop” etc. can help too.

I recently encountered someone who said that she is a “starter” (someone who finds it easy to start up a project) and that she would love to connect with “finishers” (those who see the project through to the end) to execute a project she was working on at the time and it got me thinking. Why choose to be either a “starter” or a “finisher” when you can be both a starter and a finisher? As parents, we must be an advantage to our children, and the only way we can be that is to ensure that we equip our children with all the life skills that they need to thrive in life. Empower your child to be an amazing task initiator who is never bogged down by any form of distraction.

Did you get any value, please drop a comment, a suggestion, or a question, I would love to hear from you.