Finish: Give Yourself the Gift of Done

by Jon Acuff

What was astonishing to me is something that should be more apparent to all of us: the exercises that caused people to increase their progress dramatically were those that took the pressure off, those that did away with the crippling perfectionism that caused people to quit their goals. Whether they were trying to lose a pants size, write more content on a blog, or get a raise, the results were the same. The less that people aimed for perfect, the more productive they became.

Moving forward imperfectly.

The problem is that perfectionism magnifies your mistakes and minimizes your progress.

The only way to accomplish a new goal is to feed it your most valuable resource: time. And what we never like to admit is that you don’t just give time to something, you take it from something else. To be good at one thing you have to be bad at something else. Perfectionism’s third lie is: You can do it all. I’m here to tell you that you can’t.

People who post twenty times a day are kidding themselves when they pretend they can do long-form thought while also being interrupted constantly to let people know they’re thinking. Social media isn’t free; it always costs you something. I’ve decided to bomb Snapchat.

Strategic incompetence

You will never accidentally end up doing a difficult project.

The next time you work on a goal, I dare you to ask the following questions during the middle of the project: Could things be easier? Could things be simpler?

Worrying about your book’s marketing plan when you haven’t even finished writing the book is a noble obstacle.

Admit and eliminate any side goals that you’ve taken on.

The bigger rule was “For something to count, it has to be difficult.” A lot of high performers carry that sort of secret rule along with them. If an exercise is enjoyable and you have fun doing it, it must not count.

Listen for a few secret rules and write them down. (This will take longer than one sitting since you’re asking your head to Google something that might be hidden.) Write the truth next to each secret rule. To find it, ask “What does that mean” and “Who says?” Create a new rule to replace the old one.

Actions: Write down one to three things you can track concerning your goal. Review a goal from the past to see if you can learn anything. Find your airplane. What’s the way you work best? If you’re already in the middle of a goal, decide if you need to adjust your goal, timeline, or actions.

What are you afraid of? Is it criticism? Strangers can’t critique your thing if it’s never done. It’s easier to hide your idea in a box under your bed than it is to share it with the world.

Here’s a question you’ve never asked yourself: “What am I getting out of not finishing?” Because you’re getting something.

Do you hear the perfectionism in there? She’s afraid she won’t succeed, that it won’t be perfect.

Identify which of the final fears of perfectionism you struggle with the most. (If any.) Write down the name of one friend you can reach out to. Answer the question, “What am I getting out of not finishing?”