Finish by Jon Acuff

I’ve struggled with a number of different personal and professional projects as of late, so I decided it was time to find some literary back-up. Enter Finish: Give Yourself the Gift of Done by Jon Acuff. The publisher’s blurb suggested that this book might be right up my alley:

“If you’re tired of being a chronic starter and want to become a consistent finisher, you have two options: You can continue to beat yourself up and try harder, since this time that will work. Or you can give yourself the gift of done.”

What did I end up thinking of the book? Read on to find out. You can also skip to the bottom of this post to see my notes on the work.

Pros:

• Even if I am not sold on the science behind this work (see: cons), Acuff does offer a variety of novel approaches to finishing. His advice also regularly goes against the, “accepted wisdom,” often espoused by self-help books, which is a breath of fresh air in its own right.
• Each major chapter (ie not the intro or outro) has activities that help to both summarize the material and get the reader working toward their finish line.
• I appreciated the fact that Acuff describes a variety of potential finish lines (from starting a business to losing weight); the advice is general enough to apply to virtually any goal.
• I found the author’s pop culture references charming (and occasionally funny); all readers may not have the same experience, however.
• The work’s length is in-line with other self-help books, clocking in at around 5 hours.

Cons:

• Though the author tries to lend credibility to his work based on his collaboration with a PhD student, Finish plays fast and loose with the science. All of the data comes from participants of the author’s, “30 Days of Hustle,” course, and no citations were provided (or at least there were none that I could find).
• The story where Acuff seeks out a table tennis teacher to be his, “Mr. Miyagi,” is, in a word, cringe.
• Some of the examples provided, especially those in the first chapter or two, feel generic. People mentioned in self-help books often feel like they were invented on the spot, but a few of Acuff’s don’t even get first names. Oof.

Conclusion:

Though the work isn’t perfect, I enjoyed my time with Finish. The advice provided is approachable, the examples span a broad swath of potential goals, and Acuff’s presentation is energetic and fun. Even if the science is flimsy, this one is worth a look if you want to give yourself the gift of done.

Check it out here.

You may also like:

• “Your Inner Critic is a Big Jerk” by Danielle Krysa
• “Show Your Work” by Austin Kleon

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Notes by chapter:

1. The Day After Perfect
   1. Here are a few quotes that stop folks from finishing: “When it stopped being perfect, I stopped too.” & “I can’t fail if I don’t try.”
   2. In response, the author argues that you will fail A LOT and that you need to embrace it. Developing tolerance for imperfection is what will turn a chronic starter into a consistent finisher.
   3. Be wary of “might as well …” because it is never applied to good things and often represents the white flag of surrender.
   4. Finishing, not failure, is the opposite of perfectionism. Perfectionism may masquerade as excellence, but in truth it’s a brick wall that keeps us from “done.”
2. Cut Your Goal In Half
   1. If you’re planning to lose ten pounds, try to loose five pounds instead.
   2. If you can’t cut your goal in half, double the time you have to complete the goal.
   3. It’s better to take short-cuts, implement half-measures, or otherwise throw out perfection if you FINISH.
3. Choose What To Bomb
   1. You can’t be perfect at everything or please everyone. If you try to do this, you will burn-out and/or fail.
   2. Ask: “what will enhance my ability to complete my goal, and what will hold me back or distract me?” Drop anything that fall into the latter category.
   3. If you can’t bomb or drop a task, make it less complicated. With regards to meals, you can pick recipes that are simpler or quicker to prepare.
4. Make It Fun If You Want It Done
   1. Exactly what it says on the tin: make sure there is enjoyment in the goal. The goal is to improve BOTH your performance and your satisfaction. Performance without satisfaction makes miserable winners; satisfaction without performance can discourage trying at all. Fun embraces both and helps you embrace what it takes to succeed.
   2. Perfection says: “fun doesn’t count.” This is a recipe for quitting.
   3. Also, it’s not that you should only pursue goals that are fun (or that you always have to enjoy yourself); instead, you have to find ways to inject fun into your goals.
   4. How do you inject fun / motivation into your goals? Ask: am I reward-motivated (if I do X, I’ll get the prize of Y) or fear-motivated (if I don’t do A, I’ll face the consequence of B)?
   5. Fun can be personal, and thus, be weird. It’s OK if it works just for you.
   6. Also, you since you can make the rules, you can decide what counts. For example, if your goal is to read 100 books, you can decide if graphic novels count.
   7. “Working hard for something you don’t care about is called stress. Working hard for something you care about is called passion.” Simon Sinek
5. Leave Your Hiding Places and Noble Obstacles
   1. A hiding place is something you do instead of getting your work done (e.g. Netflix, YouTube), even if seems like it is moving you toward your goal (e.g. answering emails). The first likely happen automatically, while the former require a chain of logic to justify.
      1. A hiding place is not the same as a commitment, like a job, relationships, or parts of your life that sustain you outside of your goal.
   2. A noble obstacle is a justification for why you can’t complete your goal.
6. Get Rid of Your Secret Rules
   1. These are limiting beliefs that prevent you from meeting your goal. Examples include: “I have to do this by myself,” or “if it’s not hard I’m not really succeeding.”
   2. According to the author, the goal is not to win 100% of the time, but instead to win more than you lose.
   3. To knock out a secret rule, ask: “what does this really mean?” “who says?” Also, reach out to friends and “borrowing a degree,” or using the knowledge others have accumulated to meet your own goals.
7. Use Data to Celebrate Your Imperfect Progress
   1. Failure is loud, while success is quiet. Adding a single candle in a pitch-black room makes a big difference. As you add more candles, though, the change diminishes.
   2. Data cuts through emotion to give us the facts (our memories and feelings are unreliable). Data is a gift from yesterday you received today to make the best of tomorrow.
   3. When things aren’t going well, it isn’t time to quit; instead, it is time to make adjustments. If you look at the data and don’t like what you see, you can adjust three things: 1) the goal (what you want to accomplish), the timeline (how long you’ll take to finish), or 3) what you’re doing to finish (e.g. how many “actions” you’re making to finish).
   4. Data can track progress (e.g. how much closer you are to your goal) and process (e.g. what you are doing to meet your goal). Data can also show you how far you’ve come (40% is a lot closer to 100% than 0%).
   5. There are lots of ways to track your goals. Here are a few examples: time invested, money earned, products sold, pounds lost, inches, garbage bags full of stuff, books sold / donated, pages / words written, miles run, steps, email subscribers, followers on social media, meals made, money saved, debt paid off, dates with a spouse, prospects contacted, hours slept, thank you notes mailed, new contacts, bad food avoided, books read, hours of TV watched, etc.
   6. Pick 1-3 data points to track; this will give you something to work out without becoming overwhelmed.
   7. Ask: what happened the last time you attempted a goal like this (pick something recent)? If you haven’t done this goal before, what happened when you did something similar? Who was involved last time? How long did it take? How much money do you need to finish (do you have a budget)? Was there a deadline? Were there consequences if you didn’t finish? If you finished, did you get a reward? If you didn’t finish, what tripped you up? If you could do it differently, what would you change?
   8. Why are people productive on planes? You can only work on a few things at once; you have to be deliberate. The white noise helps them focus (it’s so loud it’s quiet). The internet is weak (thus removing a distraction). It’s time-limited. It’s anonymous (and you won’t be bothered by co-workers / collaborators /etc). You can take these principles and apply them elsewhere to work smarter.
8. The Day Before Done (aka A few final fears that may keep us from finishing):
   1. “What am I going to do next?” According to the author, this is a normal reaction after spending a lot of time and energy on a project. The fear of losing something you’ve spent a lot of time on is normal, but if you give into it you just won’t finish.
   2. “Now what?” This is a related, but different question. If the previous question represented a fear of losing what you have, this one represents a fear of running out of ideas / creativity / drives (etc). To combat this, the author recommends keeping a list of potential projects as you work toward your current goal. Instead of serving as immediate distractions, they can be rewards for finishing. (E.G. “once I finish my book, I can start a podcast”).
   3. “What if it isn’t perfect? / doesn’t meet expectations / doesn’t give you the feeling you hoped for?” The author points out that: A) it won’t be perfect, B) a sure thing can fall flat just as a long-shot can be an overwhelming success, and C) even if you don’t get the outcome you wanted, you all the benefits of finishing instead (confidence, experience, and a world of possibilities that never would’ve arisen if the goal was never reached / the product never shipped / etc).
   4. Ask: “what do I get out of not finishing?” If you get more out of saying you’ll do something than actually doing it, it’ll never get done. Thus, by making the work fun and ensuring you get a lot out of it, you’re more likely to finish.