Stop before you finish

Churchill said about World War 2: “This is the lesson: never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never—in nothing, great or small, large or petty—never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.”

In our culture, a lot of emphasis is placed on grinding and finishing. But what happens when you have a huge project, and you can’t finish it in one day entirely?

In grad school, I wrote. Like…a lot. I had to figure out what worked and what did not work for me. My temptation was always to grind it out till I finished the project. But I found a better way.

If you write until you’re finished, you’re probably going to feel exhausted and you’re not going to know what to write when you begin writing tomorrow.

I had a mentor in graduate school who gave me some great advice about writing: Don’t write until you’re finished. Finish your writing session with more things to write. By “not finishing,” you’re going to do a couple of things.

1. You’re going to leave the session feeling more energized.

2. You’re going to begin tomorrow’s session knowing right where to pick up.

And this principle works for multiple domains, certainly not just writing.

If you’re working on a construction project, don’t finish out the day and just leave. Make some notes about what you’re supposed to do tomorrow, where to start.

When I’m working on a home rehab project at a rent house, I bring over the whiteboard and before I leave, I write down what the next project is. (Yes, that’s just how cool I am—I have multiple whiteboards and dry erase markers on-site. Be jealous.)

By stopping before you finish, you’re blessing your future self by leaving a breadcrumb trail for him to follow tomorrow.