Week 2, Day 9

Week 2: Taking Action

Day 9: On the Magic of Completion

Summary: Finishing projects and outstanding tasks can be energizing and create its own forward momentum. On the other hand, getting distracted by a new idea is only too easy as soon as the first project gets challenging. Burkeman suggests that we set aside a few hours to finish as many things as we can.

            This, in my opinion, is not a particularly novel or original idea. The same advice may be found in much of the productivity literature or even books on writing and creativity. For example, in the book Big Magic, Elizabeth Gilbert warns that as soon as we have started a large creative project, we will have a new idea that we find much more interesting. Also, Gretchen Rubin, author of the Happiness Project writes about the “power hour” in which we take an hour to complete as many tasks as we can.

          Homework: I do love to set a timer to complete a few tasks, so I think I’ll do that. I have pie crusts that need to be rolled out.