Avoidance
Behavioral Task for Completing One Small Part of an Avoided Task
This directive helps break inertia by focusing on completing a minimal unit of a larger dreaded task.
Your client understands the importance of a looming task, a major report, a home organization project, or preparing for a key meeting. Yet, they remain paralyzed. The sheer scale of the project creates a barrier, and every attempt to ‘just get started’ fizzles out, reinforcing a sense of being stuck and ineffective. This inertia can be a significant drag on their professional and personal life.
This task isolates a single, manageable piece of the work, reframing the objective from ‘complete the entire thing’ to ‘do this one small action.’ The immediate goal is not to make significant progress, but to simply break the static. The client leaves with tangible proof of their own agency and a new, less intimidating entry point to the larger project.
Behavioral Task for Completing One Small Part of an Avoided Task
Select one task you have been putting off.
Write down the name of this larger task in the first column of the table below.
Next, think of the smallest possible physical steps involved in that task. Do not list goals or outcomes, only actions. For example, instead of ‘clean kitchen,’ write ‘take one dish to the sink.’ Instead of ‘prepare presentation,’ write ‘open a new file and type a title.’
Choose one of these small actions. It must be something you can complete in five minutes or less. Write this action in the second column.
In the third column, describe exactly what it will look like when this single action is complete. Be specific. For example, ‘The dish is in the sink,’ or ‘The title is at the top of the blank page.’
Perform only this single action.
When the action is complete according to your description, stop all work on the larger task. Record the date and time in the final column. Do not continue on to another step of the larger task today.
| Larger Avoided Task | The One Small Action I Will Do (5 mins max) | What “Complete” Looks Like For This One Action | Date & Time I Finished The One Action |
|---|---|---|---|
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