Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,
Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
Speaker 1: tip is to try a finishing blitz. Spend a day
Speaker 1: completing all the tasks you can, even if they are
Speaker 1: done imperfectly, and let that sense of accomplishment fuel you
Speaker 1: for even more in the future. Today's tip, like another
Speaker 1: this week, comes from Oliver Berkman's book Meditations for Mortals.
Speaker 1: One of Berkman's meditations focuses on finishing things and what
Speaker 1: he calls the magic of completion. Berkman points out that
Speaker 1: completing a task energizes you for future tasks. You have
Speaker 1: probably had this experience. After completing an important task, you
Speaker 1: feel ready to conquer the world, or at least ready
Speaker 1: to knock out another important task. Rather than being depleted
Speaker 1: by what you have done, you are fired up for
Speaker 1: the next thing. But if finishing feels so good, why
Speaker 1: do we leave so many things hanging? Why is procrastination
Speaker 1: so tempting? Why do we spend time deleting emails even
Speaker 1: if we know there will always be emails instead of
Speaker 1: making progress. Berkman points out that perfectionists tend to like
Speaker 1: starting things more than finishing them. At the beginning of
Speaker 1: a project, you can still imagine finishing it perfectly, as
Speaker 1: Berkman writes, for as long as you haven't done any
Speaker 1: work on a project, it's still possible to believe that
Speaker 1: the end result might match the ideal in your mind.
Speaker 1: But the problem is that if you don't finish things,
Speaker 1: the only place the result exists is in your mind.
Speaker 1: The result may be perfect, but it's not real. You
Speaker 1: don't have any accomplishments to celebrate, you can't get feedback
Speaker 1: or other's ideas about the work you've done, and you
Speaker 1: don't get the energy boost of completion. You are much
Speaker 1: better off achieving an imperfect result then having the perfect
Speaker 1: project existing only in your head. Berkman cites advice from
Speaker 1: Steve Chandler, the author of the book Time Warrior. Chandler
Speaker 1: advises spending a day finishing as much unfinished business as
Speaker 1: he calls it as you can, and then noticing how
Speaker 1: much energy you have. You'll be amazed. He says, getting
Speaker 1: stuff done doesn't wear us out. It's leaving things undone
Speaker 1: that tends to sap our energy. For projects that are
Speaker 1: too big to complete in one setting, Berkman advises defining
Speaker 1: your next deliverable, as he puts it, clarify some outcome
Speaker 1: you could attain in a single setting, he suggests, and
Speaker 1: then work until you reach it. He gives the examples
Speaker 1: of finishing the research for a single section of a report,
Speaker 1: picking the paint color for one room, and choosing a
Speaker 1: workout plan and scheduling your first GEM session. Obviously, writing
Speaker 1: a full research report or redecorating your entire house and
Speaker 1: getting fit are more than you can do in one setting,
Speaker 1: but you can get some of the benefits of completion
Speaker 1: by defining the next step toward the goal and then
Speaker 1: accomplishing that step. So if you feel like you are
Speaker 1: in the messy and unmotivated middle of a lot of projects,
Speaker 1: having a one day finishing blitz might be just what
Speaker 1: you need. You'll get a lot done, which will give
Speaker 1: you a sense of accomplishment, Plus you'll get an energy
Speaker 1: boost to fuel you for the next thing. If you
Speaker 1: try finishing blitz, I'd love to hear about it. You
Speaker 1: can reach me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com.
Speaker 1: In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listen, and
Speaker 1: here's to making the most of our time. Thanks for
Speaker 1: listening to Before Breakfast. If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback,
Speaker 1: you can reach me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com.
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts
Speaker 1: from iHeartMedia, please visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or
Speaker 1: wherever you listen to your favorite shows.