the Weekly Framework: on finishing things instead of

hello, friends 💖 

How often do you step away from a project, telling yourself “oh, I’ll be right back” … only to trip over it three days later? Or sit down at your desk to work on a report you’re writing, only to realize you have no idea where you were or what you need to do next? How often do you walk into the kitchen to make dinner … and immediately give up and walk back out because it’s still a disaster from the last meal you made??

Yeah, I don’t think I’m alone in this one, which is why this week we’re looking at the importance of finishing what we’re doing instead of just … walking away and leaving a mess in our wake 😂😭 

I once heard someone explain that even simple tasks generally require three steps:

1. planning/preparation,

2. doing the thing, and

3. finishing/cleaning up.

This blew my mind a little, because until then, I’d generally only thought about step 2. But the more I’ve learned to recognize and actually do step 3, the easier things have gone.

Meals are a great example. Having lunch means figuring out what you’re having, fixing it, eating it, and then (hopefully) cleaning up. You put the lid back on the jar of mayonnaise and put it back in the fridge. You close up the bread bag and put it away. You wash your dishes, or at least put them in the sink or the dishwasher. You leave the kitchen ready to use again for the next meal.

Or say you have a report or memo to write for work. You map out what you need to say, write the thing, and send it to its intended recipient … and then (ideally) you save any files you need, clean up any notes you’d made in the process, and jot down a few lessons you learned along the way. You leave your desk and your computer and your brain ready to focus on the next thing.

Maybe the best example, though, is a meeting or call that results in actions you need to take. The temptation is to turn immediately to the next meeting or call, jettisoning this one from our minds. (Or my go-to move, which is to hop up from my desk for a bathroom/snack/coffee break.) But that means we’re leaving this task unfinished, because we haven’t yet set ourselves up to do the things we’ve agreed to do. How much easier would it be if you instead spent 5 minutes setting up tasks in your system or calendar reminders to prompt you to come back to those actions?

If you, like me, aren’t in the habit of finishing things, start by just noticing where this happens. Pay attention to where you’re stumbling over stuff that you’ve left out from another project, or where you struggle to pick things up again, or where you’re dropping balls or making extra work for yourself. Then, give some thought to what a “finished” (or “finished for now”) project might look like.

Let’s get into this week’s questions.

• Reflecting on last week: How’s life been over the past week? If you’re struggling, please know that you’re not alone; these are tough times for a lot of folks. Hopefully you were able to let some things breathe a little, and hopefully it helped 💖 

• Preparing for this week: What’s coming up this week? What could you do now to make those tasks and events a little easier?

• Finishing your daily or recurring tasks: How can you make the things you do over and over—dishes, emails, regular work projects—easier to keep up with? Think about where you tend to leave things, and where you’re skipping step 3 by not cleaning up after yourself or properly finishing what you’re doing. See if you can do just a tiny bit more this week to leave these things so they’re easier to do again.

• Leaving yourself breadcrumbs on big projects: With more complicated or one-off projects like painting a room, engaging in a hobby, or completing a deliverable for a client, you’re not going to finish in one sitting. So, how can you make these projects easier to return to? Do you know when you’ll next be working on this? Is that time actually in your calendar so you don’t forget, or push it off? Can you leave a note in your document about what you’ve done so far and what you’re planning to do next? Experiment with leaving yourself breadcrumbs to keep you heading in the right direction this week, and see if it helps.

• Taking care of yourself: What are you already really good at finishing? Maybe your kitchen is always clean, or you habitually clear your desk at the end of every day, or you consistently hit something like inbox zero. What else have you finished lately? This week, pause to give yourself credit for these wins. You deserve it!

Enjoy whatever you manage to finish this week, friends 💖 

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