Try a finishing blitz

Make the magic of completion work for you

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,
This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
tip is to try a finishing blitz. Spend a day
completing all the tasks you can, even if they are

(00:25):
done imperfectly, and let that sense of accomplishment fuel you
for even more in the future. Today's tip, like another
this week, comes from Oliver Berkman's book Meditations for Mortals.
One of Berkman's meditations focuses on finishing things and what
he calls the magic of completion. Berkman points out that

(00:48):
completing a task energizes you for future tasks. You have
probably had this experience. After completing an important task, you
feel ready to conquer the world, or at least ready
to knock out another important task. Rather than being depleted
by what you have done, you are fired up for

(01:10):
the next thing. But if finishing feels so good, why
do we leave so many things hanging? Why is procrastination
so tempting? Why do we spend time deleting emails even
if we know there will always be emails instead of
making progress. Berkman points out that perfectionists tend to like

(01:33):
starting things more than finishing them. At the beginning of
a project, you can still imagine finishing it perfectly, as
Berkman writes, for as long as you haven't done any
work on a project, it's still possible to believe that
the end result might match the ideal in your mind.

(01:53):
But the problem is that if you don't finish things,
the only place the result exists is in your mind.
The result may be perfect, but it's not real. You
don't have any accomplishments to celebrate, you can't get feedback
or other's ideas about the work you've done, and you
don't get the energy boost of completion. You are much

(02:14):
better off achieving an imperfect result then having the perfect
project existing only in your head. Berkman cites advice from
Steve Chandler, the author of the book Time Warrior. Chandler
advises spending a day finishing as much unfinished business as
he calls it as you can, and then noticing how

(02:35):
much energy you have. You'll be amazed. He says, getting
stuff done doesn't wear us out. It's leaving things undone
that tends to sap our energy. For projects that are
too big to complete in one setting, Berkman advises defining
your next deliverable, as he puts it, clarify some outcome

(02:55):
you could attain in a single setting, he suggests, and
then work until you reach it. He gives the examples
of finishing the research for a single section of a report,
picking the paint color for one room, and choosing a
workout plan and scheduling your first GEM session. Obviously, writing
a full research report or redecorating your entire house and

(03:17):
getting fit are more than you can do in one setting,
but you can get some of the benefits of completion
by defining the next step toward the goal and then
accomplishing that step. So if you feel like you are
in the messy and unmotivated middle of a lot of projects,
having a one day finishing blitz might be just what

(03:37):
you need. You'll get a lot done, which will give
you a sense of accomplishment, Plus you'll get an energy
boost to fuel you for the next thing. If you
try finishing blitz, I'd love to hear about it. You
can reach me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com.
In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listen, and

(04:01):
here's to making the most of our time. Thanks for
listening to Before Breakfast. If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback,
you can reach me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com.

(04:26):
Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts
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