The Importance of Finishing

Encouraging you to finish all the small projects and creative doo-dads lying around your house.

I just feel like these birds would finish what they started, don’t you? Photo by Boston Public Library on Unsplash

Should I Start This New Project?

If you are a multi-passionate person with many different interests, you probably wonder: should I do Project A, or Project B? Sometimes it sounds like: “I have so many things I want to do, I’m not sure if I should start a YouTube channel, or launch a local chapter of a running group for new moms, or try to launch my side hustle cookie baking business. Help!”

There are so many things you are good at, and there are also a dozen half-finished projects around your house, scattered around your desk, half-alive in your brain. If only you could finish them. But there’s the joy of starting something; the hyper focused research period, the buying of supplies, the fixation on the results and how successful you will be.

Obviously I am talking about me, as well as you. Because this is how I am, too. One of the new year’s resolutions is to be better at finishing things. And by be better, it just means: finish the damn thing. I’m trying not to pick up anything new until my current slate of projects is actually complete.

Yes, I am talking about new year’s resolutions because it is never too early. You can start thinking about yours, too. And we can use these remaining weeks of 2024 to plant the seeds for the future, so that we can already hit the ground running.

Creativity is Additive

We set up these false narratives where we have to choose. But from what I know about being a person in 2024, a woman and a mom and a business owner, is that things are additive. If we have the discipline to bring a project to completion, then that actually builds a stronger foundation for us. First, because now we have more confidence in our ability to finish things, and second, because we are appropriately focused for a set amount of time. This leads to better outcomes.

So for example, if you are a creative and want to start a YouTube channel, I think you should do it! Your voice is important and needs to be heard. But we do it conscientiously, with intention, with focus and dedication. We get the channel up and running, we establish a posting schedule, we play with it and figure out what we want to say, and the kinds of videos we want to post. And once you’ve established a cadence, a kind of rhythm to it — then congratulate yourself!

If It’s Dead, Give it an Honorable Death

Most people just start and stop things. Be selective about what you pick up, and then finish it. If halfway through, you realize, man I really don’t want to do this anymore — that is totally fine too, we don’t need to be martyrs, but then I think you need to give that thing an honorable death.

You need to look it in the eyes, and say, “you are dead to me now, I will no longer spend any energy thinking about you or romanticizing you or hoping you are something that you are not. I tried and it is not the time for us to create together, so I wish you the best and hope you find a new creative home.”

Yes, you need to bury your creative projects and grieve, and then move on.

The Allure of the Sparkle

We just want new things all the time, to make us feel better, to block out the pain of everyday living. Anytime I have an urge to leave the house and go shopping at TJ Maxx (this happens very often, usually at least once a week), I stop myself.

“No,” I tell myself, “you just want the dopamine rush of finding a new acrylic container to organize underneath your bathroom cabinets — you don’t need this.” I remind myself that every time I come back from the store, I have to use Goo Gone to take those sticky price tags off, and then I have to make room for the new organization tool or whatever stupid kitchen thing I bought.

Instead, I busy myself with organizing my existing mess, circumventing the whole spending money trap and focusing on the activity that I am likely to do after a shopping trip anyway. Usually, the satisfaction of cleaning out the cabinet or the pantry or the clutter corner in my bedroom delivers the same if not more dopamine satisfaction. I am deprogramming myself and its working.

It Actually Works

Every day, I have a little whiteboard on my desk with a list of projects that I want to work on. Some days, it’s client calls, other days it’s things like pack journal orders, write this blog post, film a TikTok video, call my brother back, etc. Today, I watched myself add more and more random things to the list. It’s just getting longer and longer.

I stared at the list. I realized I had a project sitting unfinished. At risk of disappearing altogether.

Last week, I had the idea to create a journal for the 10-Week Plan to Get a New Job, based on this popular article. I started sketching it out on pieces of paper last week, but then it sat. I never finished designing it on my computer. “Shit,” I thought, I’m a living example of not finishing your projects.

So, before I even let myself write this post, I got to work. I took my own stupid medicine. I opened up the digital canvas. I pulled out my notes. Then, I create two, then three, then four pages. Now, it’s more than half-way done: the momentum is there and I can taste the finish line. I can’t wait to go back to it.

And so you see, that’s what happens! You take some carcass, half-dead project and you give it some love. You breath life into it, even an hour here, an hour there makes a difference. Suddenly, it transforms! It grows legs and now it’s walking around in your mind. It has grown up from some terrible thing you dread, to a project that you might actually enjoy.

Sending you love and “finishing” vibes,

Mandy aka Career Coach Mandy