Finish

Do you have a bunch of projects that are mostly complete? Ones you started with enthusiasm, made good progress on, and then stalled? 

What would it take to get them done?

No, seriously. Make a list of what's almost done. Then for each item, identify what exactly has to be done, estimate how long it will take, project the money/materials you'll need, and decide when you'll work on it. You might even want to give yourself a deadline, if that will help with motivation.  

If this feels like overkill, your unfinished projects are probably pretty small. In that case, to step away from your phone, tablet or computer, and get to work on finishing something. The sense of accomplishment you feel at finally getting that 90%-finished project to 100%-finished is fabulous.

I did this the other day. I write early every weekday. One day last week I was just not feeling it. Instead, I felt drained. I looked over and saw the mostly-finished notebook I had pulled together of work from my son's first grade year. Several weeks ago I started it, but then I either got interrupted or ran out of steam (it was so long ago I can't remember), and it sat in the corner of my office. And sat. And sat. And tormented me, because every time I saw it, I thought, "I've got to finish that! Why didn't I just finish that? I don't feel like finishing that." If you've ever left a project unfinished, you know the feeling. If you haven't, please teach me how to not let this happen!

I decided to skip blog post writing that day to finish the school book project. Once I got started (restarted, really), it wasn't that hard at all. And at the end, I felt energized and accomplished. 

You deserve the same feeling as well! What to-do can you turn into a ta-da today?

Just finish.