The Worst Combination

I've talked before about the tendency to avoid tasks - when there's something that needs done but that you don't want to do, suddenly it becomes vitally important to reorganise some documents, or sharpen every pencil to exectly the same length, or to alphebetise your DVDs, or whatever.

But there's one combination that's even more pernicious: having two tasks you want to avoid. Because that then opens up whole new levels of avoidance strategy: you get to spend a whole lot of time getting one ready for action, then switch to the other, then switch back long enough to decide it needs yet more preparation, then back again, and on and on it goes.

Ultimately, there comes a point where you do just have to knuckle down and address one of the tasks, get it done, and then face the other. But there's a whole load of sweet, sweet temptation to wade through before that point.