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Erin, welcome to unlearning work, where we empower you to redesign your job by rethinking work habits, behaviors and strategies. I'm your host. Erin Merideth, a work behavior enthusiast and leadership strategist, join me as I explore various work related topics and provide practical insights and real life examples. We'll examine the nature of work from the ground up and deliver bite size episodes with actionable advice twice a month. Welcome to unlearning work, where we break down outdated work habits and beliefs and rebuild them using behavioral science leadership strategy and real life. I'm your host, Erin, and today we're talking about one of the most universal work struggles, dreaded tasks. You know, the ones? You move them from Monday's To Do List to Tuesday to Wednesday, and suddenly it's Friday and they're still looming. If you've ever delayed sending an email over complicated a simple task, or felt like you were dragging your brain through mud just to open a document. This episode is for you. Here's the truth. Dread is not laziness. It's not a motivation issue, and it's not a character flaw, it's a behavioral pattern, and today we're going to unpack why it happens and how to shift it without shaming yourself or pushing harder. When you have a follow up email, you keep pushing off, or the performance review note still sitting in drafts, or that new system you need to learn but avoid opening entirely. We call it procrastination, or lack of motivation. But what's actually happening goes way deeper. From a behavioral science perspective, this taps into something called the law of least effort, a principle that says humans are wired to choose the path of least resistance. In other words, your brain is designed to conserve energy. It wants things to feel easier, not harder. But here's the paradox, to avoid discomfort, like fear, uncertainty or shame, we often make work harder than it needs to be. We overthink, we over perfect, we procrastinate, and in doing so, we violate the law of least effort, using more energy to avoid the task than we would to just do it. So if you've got a task that's been sitting untouched on your to do list all week, even though it'd only take 20 minutes. This episode is for you. We're going to explore why that happens, what your brain is trying to protect you from, and five research backed strategies that align with how your brain actually wants to work. This isn't about pushing harder, it's about removing friction. So the next task you dread becomes when you actually get done. What is dread really well, let's get clear on one thing up front. Dread is your brain signal. It tells you something feels unsafe, overwhelming, emotionally risky or just pointless. Dread shows up when a task feels too big or vague, too boring to care about, it too emotionally risky to fail at or completely disconnected from your values. It's not that you don't want to do the task, it's that your brain is trying to protect you from discomfort. Dread. Isn't laziness. It's a signal from your brain that something feels unsafe, uncertain or emotionally draining. Here are some workplace examples when you need to update a report, but you don't fully understand the new spreadsheet system, so you avoid opening it all together. You keep putting off a one on one with a direct report because the conversation would be awkward. You've delayed applying for promotion because the idea of rewriting your resume feels overwhelming and high stakes. Each of these tasks look small, but the emotional weight underneath them is huge. Now let's bring in the science, the law of least effort, drawn from cognitive science and behavioral economics, says humans will naturally choose the path that requires the least amount of effort, physical or mental, to achieve a result. This law helps us understand habits, motivation and work behaviors. Our brains are designed to optimize for efficiency and avoid unnecessary exertion. In other words, we're wired to do less when we can. But here's the paradox, we often violate this law in the name of productivity, safety or self worth, and that's when dread avoidance and overwork show up. So let's look at four key behaviors. The first is perfectionism, the illusion of control. Perfectionism is driven by fear, fear of failure, of judgment, of not being enough. We over invest time and energy to feel more in control, but ironically, perfectionism violates a law of least effort. We work harder, not smarter. The behavioral insight here is, this is a cognitive distortion. We believe that more effort equals more control, when really it means more burnout. An example would be, you've been asked to draft a proposal, and instead of creating a simple first draft, you spent hours tweaking the format and language because you don't want it to look unpolished. The. Task that could take 90 minutes stretches into a five hour ordeal. You're trying to avoid judgment by overworking the task. This isn't better work, it's burnout in disguise, and this violates the law, because instead of doing something good enough, we pour excessive time energy into making it flawless. That's more effort, not less. There is cognitive bias at play that perfectionism tricks the brain into thinking, if I overdo it, I'll be safer from judgment. So we choose control over efficiency. The second one is procrastination. That's short term relief and the long term cost. So when a task feels uncomfortable, our brain chooses the easiest short term option, which is avoidance. It feels like the least effort, but then later, you're rushing, stressed and often compromising quality. The insight here is that procrastination is emotional regulation. It's not about the task, it's about escaping the emotion tied to it. So as an example, if you need to send a follow up email to a potential client, it's been on your list all week. Every time you think about it, you feel a wave of discomfort. What if they say no? So you clean out your inbox instead. The email would only take five minutes, but the emotional relief of not doing it wins out. This does seem to follow the law in the short term, because avoiding a task feels easier than facing discomfort now, so your brain chooses the easiest feeling, not the most productive action, but in the long term, this violates the law because you create more effort later. You're panicked, rushed, there's lower quality output. It's a false shortcut that actually costs more effort over time. Third is the cognitive overload and decision fatigue. Too many choices, too many tasks, too much switching, and your executive function crashes. You feel busy, but you're not making progress. The insight here is the brain is trying to optimize, but overload leads to inefficiency. An example, you're juggling four major projects. Instead of focusing on one, you start toggling between tasks, rewriting your to do list and reading slack messages that don't really matter. By the end of the day, you feel exhausted, but nothing's finished. That's decision. Fatigue at work, your brain is busy but not productive. This violates the law because you're trying to make the perfect decision or plan which burns mental energy without results. You do more thinking but less doing. So what's happening to your brain is your executive function is overwhelmed. It wants to optimize, but lacks a clear path, so it spins. And the fourth is self sabotage and identity conflict. Sometimes a task we're avoiding doesn't fit how we see ourselves. I'm not good at numbers. I never follow through. I don't deserve success, so we create friction to confirm that belief. The insight here is that bets cognitive dissonance. You sabotage to stay consistent with your identity. For example, you've been asked to lead a team training, but a voice inside says, I'm not a great speaker, so you over complicate the presentation, avoid rehearsing and secretly hope someone cancels the session. You're protecting an identity you believe in, even if it's limiting your potential. This violates the law because you're unconsciously creating obstacles to confirm internal beliefs. This keeps you in an identity loop that's effortful and unproductive. This is cognitive dissonance, and your brain chooses identity consistency over actual efficiency. Now that we know why we make work harder, let's talk about what to do instead. So here's five strategies to break the dread avoidance cycle. And these strategies align with the law of least effort. They're a behavioral reroute that will help you conserve mental and emotional energy while getting unstuck. They honor how the brain wants to work. The first one is name the resistance. Ask yourself, What exactly am I dreading? Is it confusion, fear of judgment, boredom? Write it down. Once you name it, you reduce its power. You go from being stuck to understanding your block. An example would be, I'm avoiding prepping for the leadership meeting because I'm afraid I'll be asked a question I can't answer. So that's fear. That's not laziness. So naming it gives you distance and power. This works because once you know the emotion underneath the task, the brain doesn't need to burn effort avoiding, denying or masking it. This is the least effort principle in action. Clarity reduces wasted motion. Labeling the feeling lets you focus on the task, not the emotional avoidance.
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Two, shrink the task. Dread thrives on ambiguity, so shrink the task into a micro action. So don't write the report, just open the doc and write one sentence. This is called Success scaffolding, building tiny steps that lead to motion. Another example would be, instead of update the quarterly metric. Deck. The first task is to open the slide template. So once you're in momentum takes over those smaller tasks equals smaller emotional resistance. This works because these micro actions eliminate ambiguity and lower activation energy. That's that energy and effort required to start something. This is the least effort principle in action. Small wins create momentum with minimal investment. Your brain loves quick rewards. Three time box. It use the 10 Minute Rule, set a timer and say, I'll just do this for 10 minutes. Why This Works? Well, this is a Zeigarnik effect that is, our brain hates leaving things unfinished, so once we start, we want to continue, and 10 minutes feels doable. The pressure lifts. An example might be setting a timer to begin, outlining your performance review notes. Once the clock is ticking, the I'll do it later, trap gets harder to justify the timer. Turns your emotional wall into a jump rope. Just start. And why this works is a short sprint, removes the pressure of finishing and focuses on starting, which is where most resistance lives and the least effort. Principle in action is this. Time limited tasks reduce perceived effort. A 10 Minute task feels doable and an endless one doesn't four. Pair it with reward. This is temptation, bundling pair a task you don't want to do with something you enjoy, a good playlist, a great coffee a cozy blanket, a friend on Zoom doing their own task beside you. Even if the task stays hard, the experience softens. So for example, if writing status updates bore, you try doing it with music, a great drink or from your favorite coffee shop, your brain starts to associate the task with something positive, making it easier next time. This works, because you attach effort to something pleasant, this offsets the cost of effort by increasing emotional reward, and this is the least effort principle in action, because your brain starts to associate the dreaded task with dopamine, it feels easier, even if the task hasn't changed. Five reframe the why reconnect the task to something that matters to you? Ask, why does this task matter to me, my team or my future self? What is this freeing me up to do later? Even mundane tasks can hold meaning if you look for it. Example, I'm doing this compliance training, not because it's fun, because it but because it frees up my Friday and keeps me aligned with my team's goals. Shifting the narrative shifts the motivation. This works, because when your brain sees purpose, it's more willing to invest energy, even into tasks that are effortful. This is the least effort principle in action, because purposeful work feels lighter you stop resisting, which reduces the hidden emotional tax of pushing yourself to do something that feels pointless. We need to talk about when dread becomes a pattern, because some dread is occasional, but if it keeps showing up in the same place, it becomes diagnostic, so that repeated dread is often a systems issue, not a you issue. So if you notice you dread the same task over and over, it's a signal. An example might be you avoid every data related task. In this case, you may need training or support, or you keep dreading a recurring meeting. It's time to evaluate that meeting. Is it poorly run or misaligned with your role. In these cases, it may be time to delegate or automate, re evaluate your role or responsibilities, or examine the work culture you're operating in. Your dread may not be about the task, it may be about the system you're in. So even though the law of least effort says we're wired to do less, our brains get hijacked by fear, shame, ambiguity and identity, which leads us to overwork simple tasks, avoid easy steps and make decisions harder than they need to be. So your job isn't to force effort. It's to remove the hidden effort, the emotion, the confusion, resistance that's lying underneath, and that's what these strategies do. They reduce that internal friction, so you can get back to choosing the simplest, clearest, most human path forward. So here's the big shift. Dread isn't the problem. Avoidance is dread is normal. Avoidance is optional. Dread is a messenger. It's not a stop sign. It's a signal that your brain needs clarity, safety or a purpose. So then we use those five strategies. One, naming the resistance. Two, shrink the task. Three, time box it. Four, pair it with something enjoyable. Five, reframe the why, and remember you are not broken. You're human, and the way through dread isn't force, it's strategy. Want a little extra help turning these insights into action. Download the worksheets inside the unlearning work app. It walks you through each strategy with space to name the task, identify the resistance and take one small action aligned with how your brain actually work. Work doesn't have to be this hard. Let's unlearn what's holding you back and. Make space for clarity, momentum and ease, until next time, work doesn't have To be something you dread. Let's build something better you
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