by Cara Lumen
The only reason I get to talk about the joy of completion is because I took over a year to do the final editing on some teleclasses I had recorded and it is now done and I AM JOYOUS!!!!
Isn’t it amazing how long we can put off something that will give us as much joy and satisfaction as completion? I can’t tell you how many half started (or is it half finished) e-books I have. And when I rediscover them I always find I’m a lot further along than I thought.
I wonder what made me stop. It was probably that something else popped to the top of my completion list, or I found something totally new and exciting to explore. And things pop to the top because they needed. So perhaps it’s simply that their time has come.
But back to the joy of completion. When I finished my first CD cover, and had that jewel case sitting on my desk it was a thrill. When I complete an e-book and make the sales page and post it in my shopping cart I am ecstatic.
Why do we neglect completion? Why do we put it off when it feels so good?
You know, it doesn’t have to be a very big completion in order to count. Hey, taking the notes that are all over my desk and putting them into my Quick List is a win. Listening to a downloaded teleclass I’ve been meaning to get to gives me satisfaction and new knowledge. Taking a moment to organize the files on my hard drive should be properly celebrated. And making a new mind map of my next steps demands a pat on the back.
Yes, I have a “To Do” list. I call it my “Quick List.” It stays open on my computer and every idea I have goes on it. It has a section for article and e-book ideas, things to do to strengthen my web site, phrases I like, links to remember and next steps to take. It holds a calendar with the phone numbers of the teleclasses I plan to take, my coaching schedule and my “Do Today” list. So keeping track is not the problem. But sometimes completing is.
I think it’s time for sticky notes. What if, at the end of each day, I acknowledged myself for something I had completed and write it down? Hopefully the number of sticky notes could become quite decorative. At the end of the week I would read them over and bask in the joy of completion. I would really take time to acknowledge myself and feel how good it is to have moved forward through completion. Then I would clear the decks and start fresh for the upcoming week.
My coaching clients are usually entrepreneurs with a lot of ideas. Part of my job is to get them to focus on one idea, complete it and then choose a next step. Often I meet with resistance. Not intentionally, just because they are excited about so many things and want to do them all. Do you know that feeling?
If you run around with a lot of half completed aspects of your business you will never feel like you are making any forward motion. On your calendar, schedule specific times to work your business. It may be to write articles or research potential radio interviews or it may be to invoice work you have completed. If you don’t set aside time to work your business every week you will stay at exactly the place you are now. And if you don’t complete a few steps each week you are simply dog paddling to stay afloat.
Completion is tied into commitment. And commitment works wonders. Commitment lines up all manner of magical gifts from the universe in the form of tools we need, people we need to speak to, and circumstances that offer new opportunities.
Sometimes I don’t complete because what’s left to do is not very interesting. It’s much more fun to create something new than edit something you’ve already done, or write the thank you page for your web site, or set up a new product in your shopping cart. But it is tying up those final ends that is the icing on the cake. Don’t let a project go uncompleted because of three things on your “To Do” list that will take you 20 minutes to complete. You are robbing yourself of the great pleasure of completion.
I know that part of my non-completion is because of bumping other things to the top of the list. And maybe they do need to be bumped up. Maybe they are more of a priority. Perhaps I can focus on celebrating what I do complete rather than what remains to be done.
What we focus on we attract more of. If I focus on completion, and if I celebrate each success, I know that I will find myself completing more and more…..and more.