Right now I’m staring at a blank screen, or rather, I was until I began typing. Starting with nothing and making it something is a huge part of what I do. It’s what I love, it’s one of the reasons I get up everyday. But starting is not always easy, and it’s just half the battle. A good start is meaningless with out a good finish.
All too often it seems like our projects, once they’ve been started and going for awhile, seem to stall a bit. Usually right towards the end. Finishing or closing a project is hard, and something that I’ve written about in the past.
The best projects, regardless of what you’re doing, have both a strong start and a good resolution. However, it takes some practice and discipline to be able to start and finish well.
Productivity
I get asked all the time about Getting Things Done, project management and productivity. People want to know how I “do it.” The answer, in large part, has to do with discipline and routine, as you’ll see, but it’s also about getting started strongly and then keeping momentum enough to get to the end.
A good start is nothing without a good finish, and you can’t finish anything without first having it be started.
Some of the biggest barriers to GTD are fears and distractions. The same things that keep you from getting started and the same things that hold you back from a good finish.
Starting
Starting something new can be terrifying. I’ve had to learn over the years to just dive in and start, but even then, even with all the excitement I’ve got, I struggle. I often procrastinate, or distract myself with less important things. I plan, and plot and plan some more. I talk myself out of my fear. I’m like the kid at the end of the diving board who doesn’t want to jump.
But then I jump in and everything is ok. Over the years I’ve gotten much better at starting. The fear I used to feel is still there, but it’s pushed back behind a layer of experience, knowledge and practice.
Yep. Practice. I consider “starting” something you need to practice. A blank slate can be scary and the best way to deal with fear is to face it head on. Do that enough, make a routine out of it, and it gets easier.
You begin to instinctively realize that it almost always gets much easier once you’ve taken the leap. I mean, think about jumping into a pool. If the pool has water in it, you’re almost always going to be just fine, right? So why is that jump so hard the first few times you do it?
I don’t know, and to be honest, I’m less familiar with the fear of starting something something as I used to be. That’s what practice will do. It’ll build the confidence for the next time you start something.
Closing
Starting is hard, but once you get past that first little bit, once you’re off and running it usually gets much easier. Until you near the finish. The hardest part of doing something, for many of us, is that last 5 or 10 percent.
When trying to finish something you don’t have that momentum or push you have when starting something. Momentum begins to wain, you may hit a problem that seems unsolvable or you may simply begin to lose interest.
Closing uses the same principles, albeit a bit differently, as starting does. With starting you just have to get over any fear or intimidation you’ve got and go for it. Dive in and keep moving. The same goes with finishing. I look at it like forcing myself to re-start every-time I begin to slow down. If you make a routine of that, if you get to the end over and over, you’ll eventually become a good finisher.
It’s important to note I say “re-start” and not “start over.”
I’ve found it very, very important to actually get to the end of something before you even think about starting over. I don’t know how many things in life get stuck in the middle of nowhere because half-way through someone decides to start over from scratch. I feel it’s much better to end and close something completely and then, only if you have to, start all over again from the beginning.
Starting over is kind of like giving up. If you keep doing that you’ll just get better at giving up and that’s no good. If you find you’re really having trouble finishing, work with a closer.
Teamwork
Some people will never be as good at closing projects as they are at starting them. Some will never be good at getting started as they are about finishing. This is why we’ve got teams. When it comes to getting something done it’s good to work with someone who compliments your own skills and can make up for your faults.
If you’re good at starting things off, you should work with a great closer. If you’re the kind of person that needs a little push to get going, but can see things through to the end, you need to team up with a great starter.
The great thing about teaming with people to get things done is that you’ll become better at those things you struggle with. It’s kind of like osmosis. See enough things get to the end and you’ll become better and better at taking things through to completion yourself.
You can do it
Of course that’s not to say you can’t be both a good starter and a great closer. It just takes discipline, vision, effort and an unwillingness to quit. Becoming the kind of person that can get things done is work, but anyone can do it. I often tell people who ask me about GTD that it’s less about the actual process or techniques you use and more about holding yourself accountable to what works for you. Having that discipline is what will turn you into a productive person and let’s face it—it’s not easy.
Like I mentioned at the beginning, I’ve often got a hard time starting something, but I’ve learned through both success and failure that by just doing it, by simply starting and making a routine of starting, I find I can get myself far enough along to see things through to the end.
Nice post Keith.
I also find myself often drifting at the end of a project.
I typically don’t have those issues at the start but at the end I just have to tell myself over and over to just finish and just start in and plug away and it eventually gets done.
I am drifting at the end of a couple of projects right now. Argh. I think that leaving the hard /messy / fiddly / unintersting parts till last doesn’t help with this. My tip (which I should start subscribing too) is to do the hard, messy, fiddly and uninteresting things first while you are still all excited and motivated. Then later, when your tired and bored, or have new ideas and projects to get onto, you are left with the exciting things which are much easier to do :)
How true that is. It seems like the last 10% of the project requires 100 times the effort of the rest of the project.
Great article and something I’ve been thinking about recently. I definitely finish stronger than I start as well. I love to wrap things up and see the product. Starting is always intimidating but rewarding for me.
My brother on the other hand is the exact opposite. He jumps in with both feet and lags just past the half way point.
Hopefully, like you say, will balance each-other out.
I find that starting is the most difficult. Finishing is easier for me; I think I am much better at taking stock to see what’s missing, what needs to be cut, what needs to be “re-started.”
What often gets me through the initial start, the part where I have several ideas and I feel the need get it right going in, is something one of my writing teachers told me: All first drafts are st.
I think that’s another way of saying, like you did, that the most important aspect of starting is taking the leap.
Nice writeup & observations.
My bane, @waiting for, kills my momentum. I’m glad I’m not a control freak. If I didn’t learn how to plate spin I’d have a serious issue—then it just becomes a re-caching delay.
Very well captured thoughts! I am great at kick starting any thing but loose interest when it comes to the nitty-gritty details of any project.
I work best with team where I can take the lead and than pass on the torch to a group who can take it to the finish line under my guidance. I use an outsourcing team for this reason so I can experiment with a few concepts without paying a high price for the same.
Yeah I seem to start well and struggle to finish it and get uninspired…
Its a hard habit to get out of :( but thanks for the post dude.
Starting is more difficult for me. Usually, the key for me is to pin down what I need to ask and who I should be asking - to get the information, permission or resources I need for the project. Once I have the stuff I need to start, then it’s fun to dive in and start doing.
I find it much easier to work on my own than coordinate others, and that’s increasingly part of my projects. Keeping track of their progress, giving them the nudges they need, and waiting patiently for them to finish their tasks is probably the hardest aspect for me of any project. I guess it’s most likely to come in the middle of a project.
So will all of you FINISHING type folks please contact me, I’ve got dozens of projects started. :)
What a great posting. I too am a very poor finisher as I tend to loose interest about 3/4 the way through a project. I think that, for me, when the end is in sight the technical challenge has been overcome and the rest is just the ‘donkey work’ of tying up the ends.
No, I have nothing to say
Thanks for the article :) I have to admit I really like coming with ideas and starting projects, but continuing and even ending them completely trips me up (bar a few special projects) I’m going to look around your site now for an article about managing teams…
I have a problem with finishing the project. Whenever I feel that I have done every thing and I need some touches to finalize the it, thats when the problem begin.
For me, closing is hard.I’m make a common starting, and I find out I take a wrong way and then, I give up, and re-start it.Over and over again….
Ha, I just read this article while putting off finishing a few of my projects. How ironic…
I’m definitely a much better starter than finisher. I’ve managed to prevent a lot of problems by only allowing myself to have 2-3 projects open at any time. I always have projects I want to start, so it’s motivation for me to finish other projects so I can start on new ones.
Punchlists - the only way to kill lingering projects.
Thanks for the article. i’d like to use Tracks; do you have it installed on a web host, or local? is it difficult to do on a remote host?
The one thing that keeps me going through the drudgery of finishing a project is the prospect of starting a new one. My boss doesn’t let us start on a new one unless we have a completed one to turn in. Reminds me of school sometimes, but it’s effective.
Wow… this article couldn’t have come at a better time. For the past week or two I have been totally stuck on the last, as you mentioned, 5-10% of a project. I have been totally slacking off and need to just face it and get ‘er done.
Thanks a ton for the article, just knowing that others in the same field feel the same way and go through exactly the same trials as I do is enough motivation to get this thing finished!
Thanks again! Awesome stuff!
I really have the hardest time starting most projects, unless it’s a new job for a new client — then, I’m eager to please.
Often, I have to set unreasonable deadlines for myself and communicate them to someone who can get up my a, so that I can use fear to get started!
It’s quite pathetic, really, because I know that I’m duping myself.
I would haveappreciated more concrete suggestions (set a timer, prioritize tasks, delegate) but it’s an interesting topic nonetheless.
I support students with learning difficulties at a college in the UK. Many of the students have dyslexia of some kind, and I have found that some of them find coming to the end of a project (and actually handing in the work for assessment) is a big problem - I am not sure if this is fear of failure or something more complex.
Fear of failure? or fear of success. There could be both. I’m really thinking I have a fear of success. I failed at so many things in life that it could be that failure is familiar and what is familiar is comfortable.
In my own opinion, it is much harder for me to start a project than to finish it and i wonder why because as soon as i get started i dedicated my time to it and keep working towards my goal until i make it however it could take me days or even weeks before i start.