Task Initiation – Importance

“Success […] in life essentially boils down to the ability to set and achieve task-oriented goals.”^​1​

Not only is this true of larger, obvious goals, such as “I will study for this last final of university so I can graduate” or “I will go online and apply to some jobs today,” but success in all aspects of a person’s life depends on the successful initiation of small, everyday tasks such as:

• Getting ready for the day
• Starting on homework, work assignment, or project
• Doing chores
• Writing an email or making a phone call
• Checking the mail
• Paying bills, doing taxes
• Staying in touch with family and friends

For children and adults with impaired task initiation (TI), getting started with anything can be difficult, but especially so when it a complex and/or important assignment. While people with good executive functioning abilities may be confused and exasperated by the level of difficulty others may have in doing “simple” things, they are taking their own abilities for granted, because rarely is any task easy when you have executive dysfunction:

“Beginning a task such as homework or chores or even following a direction is more complex than you might guess at first glance. […] What you actually do when you start a task is think about the task, imagine yourself doing the task, imagine what it might feel like to start and finish the task, motivate yourself to complete the task, anticipate what would happen if you did not do the task, mentally plan the steps in the task, think about when the best time would be to do the task, pause in the task you are already doing, gather the needed materials, and then begin the task”^​2​

People with poor task initiation may have trouble with any, or many, steps in that process. Often the brain will become overwhelmed, (consciously or not), and that overwhelm will appear to “stun” the brain, stopping any action towards the task at all, and often causing “psychological distress.”^​3​

It also appears that many people with impaired Efs “do not automatically visualize a positive emotion of the future, a time when they are finished with the task. Instead, they get stuck on the present negative emotion.”^​2​

Furthermore, successful TI relies heavily on the other executive functions, which may also be impaired: planning/prioritizing to figure out how to accomplish the task; cognitive flexibility to shift from one task to the other; organization to have what is needed easily accessible; self-monitoring to make sure you are on-task and following the plan; inhibition to avoid distractions; and working memory as the mental “workspace” for it all.

Task initiation may be the executive function most likely to be impaired even in people who otherwise don’t struggle with executive dysfunction. In fact, it is estimated that about half of all students, and around 20%-25% of adults have “significant difficulties from chronic and recurrent procrastination in their everyday life.”^​3,4​

This postponement or avoidance of “important activities in multiple domains of their professional and personal lives, often [comes] at significant costs to their mental, physical, and economic well-being,”^​5​ not least of all because a “person manifesting high procrastination may lose work, drop out of school, and may jeopardize his/her marital life.”^​3​

Education

Success at school relies on the ability to complete assignments well and on time and to successfully study outside of class. Thus impaired task initiation ability is a significant barrier to academic achievement.

“Once children are school-age, the demands on their ability to start tasks increase with each grade. The level of independence also increases. Children in kindergarten through second grade tend to have much more guidance to get started on tasks, and then in third through fifth grade, the teachers begin to decrease their support in an effort to build independent-learning skills. Children are expected to start on their work right away, and even anticipate what they should start working on in advance of the teacher telling them what to do. Children with executive functioning weakness tend to struggle more with each passing year, and continue to require more support than their peers in learning how to start tasks.“^​3​

Luckily, however, task initiation impairments can be mitigated by various skills training and supporting. (LINK TO THAT PAGE)

Work

“As timely performance is a requirement of most jobs, procrastination is particularly problematic in the workplace.”^​5​

Procrastination, the symptom of impaired task initiation, at work is associated with “weak impulse control, lack of work discipline, lack of persistence, an inability to work methodically, [and a] lack of time management skill.”^​3​ Perhaps unsurprisingly, then, it is also “associated with lower levels of career advancement, longer periods of unemployment, and increased rates of stress and illness.”^​5​ It is also linked with “low salaries and short employment durations along with a greater chance of being either unemployed or under employed instead of working full time.”^​3​

Procrastinators have been found to be less efficient in and appear to be “less committed” to their job searches.^​3​ When they are employed, they tend to “miss more deadlines than non-procrastinators, and make more errors and work at a slower speed than non-procrastinators when performing timed tasks,” which “challenges the notion that procrastinators “work best under pressure.””^​5​ Unsurprisingly then, people with TI impairment are often evaluated negatively by
management, colleagues–who must often deal with the “consequences of delayed task completion and work harder to make up for loss productivity,”– and even themselves.^​3​

Social Life/Relationships

“[P]rocrastinators are publicly self-conscious and highly self-critical along with lacking self-efficacy and self-esteem,” which may be one reason why they are less likely to be married than non-procrastinators.^​5​ Another reason may be that they have a “high tendency of putting off starting and ending relationships,” causing procrastination levels to have “a strong relationship with marital status.”^​3​

Furthermore, when in a long-term relationship, trouble with employment, finances, and other such aspects impacted by poor task initiation can often put a strain on those relationships.

Health

People with poor task initiation have been shown to have higher levels of: stress and anxiety; poor self-esteem and self-confidence; “public and private self-consciousness;” irrational thinking; depression; shame and guilt; negative self-blame; negative self-evaluations in general; distress; “negative and ineffective coping behaviors;” lack of sense of personal control and sense of self-perceived personal ability;” “poor health due to the stress caused by working too close to deadlines;” and a “lack of important adjustment behaviors;” with “poor overall mental health.”^​3,6​ This chronic stress causes an “increased risk for chronic illness that can create additional vulnerabilities and compromise subjective well-being.”^​6​

Furthermore, “procrastinators fail to steer their goal-directed activities toward healthy lifestyles.”^​3​ Going to sleep can be considered a task in of itself (as well as being frequently postponed due to last minute late-night work sessions), and thus procrastinators may not be getting enough sleep, either. Teenagers especially tend to do this, despite their growing minds and bodies needing sleep even more than adults. In fact, “according to the National Sleep Foundation, adolescents need about 9 1/4 hours of sleep each night to function best” but “one study found that only 15 percent reported sleeping 8 1/2 hours on school nights.”^​2​

Other

Maintaining healthy finances in the modern world can be difficult for anyone, but is especially so for those with TI impairments. Paying bills, contacting banks, doing taxes, planning for the future– these are tasks which can significantly impact a persons if they are not able to complete them. 

According to an H&R Block survey in the US, for example, it was estimated that “procrastinating on taxes costs people on average $400 because of rushing and consequent errors, resulting in over $473 million in overpayments in 2002.”^​7​ Failing to initiate retirement plans can be seen as “as a form of procrastination, in which many start preparing for their later years far too late,”^​7​ causing “far reaching implications on people’s financial security.”^​3​

Sources: