FINISH: Give Yourself the Gift of Done (John Acuff)

It's kind of ironic that it has taken me a couple of attempts to read this book. I was introduced to it by a Better Than Before group I'm in on Facebook. Initially, I was turned off by the title. My mom always poo poo-ed the word 'done' unless it was used with baking. I don't even know if that is correct or not. My mother's voice is always in my head though when someone says, "Are you done?" or "When will this be done?" It's sure to earn a scowled look, even if it's just in my mind.

I got past the title and read the first chapter. His first chapter talks about cutting your goals in half. My goal-oriented (feverish?) self was totally turned off. How is a person supposed to accomplish anything if they cut their goals in half? I put the book away.

Today I had a bunch of cleaning and cooking to do and wanted something to listen to and it had come up on my audio books borrowed from the library so I decided to give it a go again. I quite enjoyed it this time! He has a great sense of humor and really doesn't like perfectionist tendencies - something I totally agree with. I liked his ideas for getting rid of distractions, tracing progress (he calls it keeping data), not being afraid to finish and looking out for other goals to work on once you meet your goal.

I really am a starter. I have a ton of ideas, but I get mired down in the doing. I really enjoyed his book. He had some good ideas for me.

Goodreads summary:

Year after year, readers pulled me aside at events and said, “I’ve never had a problem starting. I’ve started a million things, but I never finish them. Why can’t I finish?
According to studies, 92 percent of New Year’s resolutions fail. You’ve practically got a better shot at getting into Juilliard to become a ballerina than you do at finishing your goals. 

For years, I thought my problem was that I didn’t try hard enough. So I started getting up earlier. I drank enough energy drinks to kill a horse. I hired a life coach and ate more superfoods. Nothing worked, although I did develop a pretty nice eyelid tremor from all the caffeine. It was like my eye was waving at you, very, very quickly. 

Then, while leading a thirty-day online course to help people work on their goals, I learned something surprising: The most effective exercises were not those that pushed people to work harder. The ones that got people to the finish line did just the opposite— they took the pressure off. 

Why? Because the sneakiest obstacle to meeting your goals is not laziness, but perfectionism. We’re our own worst critics, and if it looks like we’re not going to do something right, we prefer not to do it at all. That’s why we’re most likely to quit on day two, “the day after perfect”—when our results almost always underper­form our aspirations. 

The strategies in this book are counterintuitive and might feel like cheating. But they’re based on studies conducted by a university researcher with hundreds of participants. You might not guess that having more fun, eliminating your secret rules, and choosing something to bomb intentionally works. But the data says otherwise. People who have fun are 43 percent more successful! Imagine if your diet, guitar playing, or small business was 43 percent more suc­cessful just by following a few simple principles. 

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.