Completion - Getting work off your mind
Have you spotted that your mind wants things to be completed? Finished, done, checked off.
For the last four years you've wished that Trump was out of the White House. That was your wish. You followed every Tweet and all the news stories, hoping that something or someone is going to find him out so he gets booted out.
You watched the news over the past week as the election votes were being counted. Turning your TV on in the morning wishing that your dream comes true and Biden wins.
Now it's happened you are happy. The thing you wanted (or should I say, didnt want) is now complete. You're feeling relaxed because your vision of success has materilaised.
You've been in this position before with regard to Brexit. The Conservatives had a very clever slogan. Get Brexit Done. You loved that because you wanted that too. It was taking up far too much of your headspace. If it got completed, then you could relax and move on to listening to some other news.
When it comes to your work, your mind operates the same. It wants to complete things. Tasks, projects, goals, strategic objectives.
But your mind stresses out and paralyses itself. It can't get started. You procrastinate. You want to complete something but you dont know where to start, and if you do, it’s going to take too much time and energy to be worth doing. There's a storm in your brain. No clarity therefore no motivation
You might be in the opposite camp. You just want to get to the finish line and reach that goal. Tasks ticked off, projects done. So you do whatever it takes to get there. Pushing through for days, weeks, months. Working all the hours, to the detriment of all the other important stuff. Your mind, health, relationships, and everything else that needs completing. Your mind is so focussed on the outcome, that you fail to check if its still the prize you (or others) want, and if you are on track, and if you are enjoying the experience.
Whether you just cant get going, or you can but you cant stop, there is a solution. I call them mini-completes.
Mini-completes could be just the very next action you need to do to move a project forward. The tinier, the quicker, the easier it can be, the better the chance of completion. You get that reward from the progress and achievement. A box ticked off, a dopamine hit to the brain, you feel both energised and relaxed.
Test this out.
What's the smallest task that you could complete right now?
Go do it.