The ‘Start, Continue, Finish’ Technique.

A simple method to turn a scary task into a doable task.

Do you ever look at a task and think: “Where do I start with that?”

When we see a task that we are not clear about what to do, we will postpone, ignore, or kick it down the road until another day.

Likely, the problem is not with the task itself. For example, you may have to “launch the new marketing campaign” next month, but when written like that, your brain will say, “No way do I have time for that today!”

I developed a simple three-step process called “Start, Continue, Finish” to help you with tasks like this.

With all tasks (and indeed all projects), there are three primary phases:

Start.

At some point, you will need to start the task/project. That could be as simple as writing the title of a report in a Google Doc, or it might be to collect all your research notes together into a single, searchable folder. Whatever that may be, add the word “start” to the beginning of the task. So, in the above example, you now have: “Start work on the new marketing campaign launch.”

This means you can spend as little or as much time as you have available on this task today. Once finished, you can change the verb to:

Continue.

Now, the task says, “Continue work on the new marketing campaign launch.” Once again, you can spend as little or as much time as you have available to complete this task.

You can reschedule the task as frequently as you need to work on the project or task further. However, once you know there is just a tiny amount of work that needs doing, you change the verb again to:

Finish.

This is my favourite part of a task. When I see tasks like this, I know the finish line is in sight, which motivates me to push to complete the project.

It’s a simple technique that breaks down a formidable-looking task into something achievable. It gives you control over how much time you spend on a task each day and becomes much less scary, reducing the risk of kicking it down the road.

If you have any tasks you’ve been rescheduling, try the Start, Continue, Finish technique. Add one of these verbs to the beginning of the task and see how your attitude towards the task changes.

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