The importance of setting micro-goals to calm anxiety

Some of the most common causes of anxiety have to do with the fear of facing what worries: our pending tasks at work, the responsibilities of the home or coexistence family etc. The perception of facing challenges that overwhelm us or whose fulfillment would mean having to make a lot of effort (at a time when which we may not feel 100%) causes these kinds of problems to accumulate as we leave them unattended.

Nowadays There are many strategies that we can put into practice to control our anxiety levels, and one of the most important is the establishment of micro-goals. so as not to let the tasks before us intimidate and paralyze us.

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This is how micro-goals help us manage anxiety

Below you will find a series of benefits offered by micro-goals in task management, with the which we can significantly lower our levels of anxiety in the work environment or in private life in House.

1. It allows us to overcome the fear of undertaking complex tasks

Anxiety at work usually arises from the fear or intimidation that one feels before certain tasks that generate uncertainty or that at first we do not know if we are going to solve with success.

By setting short-term micro-goals with the goal of breaking down a larger task into smaller units, this it will seem less intimidating once we have separated its parts, and that will allow us to face each of those subdivisions with greater strength and determination.

By dividing a large piece of work into small tasks grouped in a logical way, we can start working more quickly on each one. of the units or compartments created and we will perceive as more affordable a job that at first seemed very demanding and complex.

In addition, this is one of the best remedies that exist to overcome procrastination, since If we do not manage the fear of thinking about pending tasks well, we fall into the trap of "leaving it for another time".

• You may be interested: "The 3 types of procrastination, and tips to stop postponing tasks"

2. Helps motivate us throughout the process

Setting small goals during the same day or during the week also helps us to be more motivated, since always gives us the possibility of feeling satisfied with the work done in a matter of minutes or a couple of hours, once done.

Goals push us to do those daily tasks and obligations that we must perform and the simple fact of doing them and completing them successfully already It supposes by itself a blow of motivation and self-esteem which helps us to continue with a positive rhythm of work throughout the week.

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3. Allows greater structure of the day

Small short or medium-term goals help us to temporarily structure tasks and not hesitate to every moment about what to do, which contributes considerably to lowering our anxiety levels.

Once we have taken care of dividing the task into many micro-goals at the beginning of everything we no longer have to worry about it again and we manage to stop doubts from paralyzing us in the face of indecision, something very positive because this last type of situation raises the level of stress: it gives us the feeling that we cannot move forward because of those constant pauses to reflect.

In short, knowing at all times what to do and how to allocate our intellectual and physical resources, we will have a much higher performance and an improvement in our mental health.

4. More efficient use of time

By establishing a short-term micro goal, we know that in a short time we will be able to finish that task in issue and "close" one of those mini-work cycles, which allows us to deal with other tasks more laborious.

So, if we have to attend to another responsibility later, we will strive to finish first that mini-task that we have already started or that we can finish in minutes, which will allow us to fit all the elements of our schedule and work more efficiently, finishing those lighter tasks first and fitting the small blocks of work into our schedule.

On the contrary, if we do not subdivide our tasks according to their level of difficulty, it will be more difficult for us to carry out work in a useful way, since we will fall into a reasoning of the type: “total, I will not have time to finish it now and in an hour I have to go to the dentist, it is better that I start when I return to home".

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5. Helps focus attention

Another of the essential advantages that the establishment of micro-goals offers us is that of helping us to focus our objectives and in our specific task at a given time, without attending to other issues unrelated to the same.

Thus, we prevent our mind from going around thinking about issues that concern us about other responsibilities or other different jobs, and we focus exclusively on the microtask that we are doing at the moment.

In short, we can say that the micro-goals "pull" our attention towards them and keep us busy during the brief period of work that they consist of.

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