Finish: Give Yourself the Gift of Done

More entertaining than informative, there's nothing revelatory in the insights but it is a quick read and he's a funny writer. I will probably use some of his advice, and at least I did finish the book. He'd probably be fun to meet at a party or even just sitting in an airport because he has a great perspective and does not take himself too seriously. I'd buy the book again, but don't have to now because I already have...

Finish acts as a no B.S. guide to getting things done as it helped me quickly identify the barriers, self-imposed and external, that stand in the way of completing what I’ve started. I highly recommend this book to professionals looking to be more effective when it comes to their productivity and better managing their ability to execute. Finish is particularly applicable to creative creators who are writing, podcasting, shooting video or developing any other format of content as there’s a lot of particular tips for helping simplify your goals to ensure you’re able to reach the finish line and get things published. Here are my three big takeaways from the book and why I recommend giving this a read: 1) The pursuit of perfectionism keeps you from reaching your goals. Acuff suggests coming to the realization that your goals won’t be perfect and that you’ve got to develop a tolerance for imperfection. There will be failures along the way as you navigate your tasks, but that doesn’t mean you should stop because of a misstep or two or maybe even three. 2) Reduce your goals to ensure you reach the finish line. He suggests cutting your initial goals in half to make them more attainable as we typically fall prey to planning fallacy, the tendency to make plans unrealistically close to best-case scenarios. A researcher at the University of Memphis studied the members enrolled in one of Acuff’s courses and found that “90 percent of the people that cut their goal in half said they had an increased desire to work on their goal; it encouraged them to keep going, and it motivated them to work harder because the goal seemed attainable.” He found that people were more eager to continue forward and finish their projects when their goals became manageable and the pace was adjusted accordingly. 3) Identify the made-up rules that hold you back and break them. “Perfectionism is a desperate attempt to live up to impossible standards,” according to Acuff. These impossible standards are secret rules or limiting beliefs we all abide by that direct our work and make it more difficult to complete the tasks we’ve committed to. A common secret rule is that only miserable, difficult goals count says Acuff like running to lose weight because that sounds more taxing than Zumba, which you’d rather be doing in the first place. He recommends replacing any cumbersome rules with new ones that are flexible, reasonable, healthy and truthful. If you’re looking to better understand your behavior when it comes to time management, goal setting and productivity, than I highly recommend reading Finish. It’s light, funny and easy to read with strong takeaways you can immediately act on.

Most people don’t keep their New Year’s resolutions. According to a commonly cited statistic, 92 percent of resolution-makers become resolution-breakers. The odds may not be ever in your favor, it seems. Of course, most people don’t accomplish their goals, period. It doesn’t matter to your body whether you resolve to eat right and exercise on January 1 or July 17, for example. The only thing that matters is whether you eat right and exercise. You can start doing those things — or not doing them — any time of the year. The same goes with any other goal. So why do our resolutions fail? Why don’t we finish what we start? There may be any number of reasons, but Jon Acuff thinks that perfectionism is “the ultimate villain.” He writes: "The problem is that perfectionism magnifies your mistakes and minimizes your progress. It does not believe in incremental success. Perfectionism portrays your goal as a house of cards. If one thing doesn’t go perfectly, the whole thing falls apart. The smallest misstep means the entire goal is ruined. "Perfectionism also messes us up by making us aim too high. There are perhaps a thousand reasons 92 percent of resolutions fail, but one of the greatest is also one of the most deceptive. "When we create a goal, we aim for something better. We want to look better. We want to feel better. We want to be better. But then better turns into best. We don’t want small growth. We want massive, overnight success." The key to keeping your New Year’s resolutions and accomplishing your goals starts with kicking perfectionism to the curb. This is easier said than done, however, so Acuff recommends taking six action steps: 1. Cut your goal in half. 2. Choose what to bomb. 3. Make it fun if you want it done. 4. Leave your hiding places and ignore noble obstacles. 5. Get rid of your secret rules. 6. Use data to celebrate your imperfect progress. Again, this looks easy, but while Acuff keeps the tone of the book light — he’s a very witty author — there are sound motivational principles behind his advice. And he fleshes out how to take each action step with concrete examples, diagnostic questions and helpful suggestions. Reading a book isn’t a magic wand. Accomplishing your goals requires work, often hard work. But the work doesn’t have to be impossible or joyless. In fact, it should be doable and tap into your deepest hopes. As the New Year begins, don’t let the best get in the way of the better. Don’t let perfectionism hinder progress, however small. Be realistic, be patient…and get ’er done!

The book is a good read. Straight to the point with helpful skills you can start using right away! Great!

Confession. I'm a struggling perfectionist. Have been most of my life. I've been able to overcome it for the most part when it comes to things I don't really care about all that much. But if there's something that's REALLY important to me...something I REALLY want to accomplish or get done...something that I feel CALLED to do or BORN to do...well, my perfectionism kicks in big time. I start working on it with tons of enthusiasm. I map out the steps and stages. I start thinking about how big of an impact this is going to make for myself, my family, and yes, maybe even the world! Then, I get nailed hard with perfectionism, I splutter to halt. Tell myself I'll get it done soon...as soon as the time is right (perfect)...and then EVERYTHING will work out perfectly. Years later, I look back with regret and wonder what happened. Does this happen with everything I do? No. Does perfectionism hang me out to dry every time? No. Just when it comes to something I really care about. Something I'm really passionate about. Something I know I can and should do because this is in my sweet spot. That's where I falter. That's why this book is exactly what I needed. It has some humor, some good advice, and mostly it's a positive kick in the backside to get stuff done and how to get past my perfectionism. I bought the hardcopy of this book first, started reading it, then knew I'd need it on audio so I could listen to it multiple times. So bought the book a second time, but this time on audio. I've been listening to in the car and while jogging. I can't tell you how many times I've pounded the steering wheel and said, "YES!" to no one in particular because the author hit the nail on the head for me. I think the thing that was most helpful to me, was that John identifies SO MANY different ways that perfectionism rears it's ugly head and tries to stop the work you know you were born to do. I mean, it's not like I'm surprised that I struggle with perfectionism, I've known that for decades. It's that I didn't realize just how many ways perfectionism can sabotage my plans and my big goals. So, if you struggle to get stuff done (especially the important stuff you really care about), get this book. Even if you don't know why you struggle (maybe especially if you don't know why you struggle). This book will help. And if you're a recovering perfectionist like me, you really, really need to read this book to uncover ALL the ways you need to say no to perfectionism and do the things you know you were meant to do in life.

I felt called out at times lol. But that’s just a testament to how personal and real the book is. Totally recommended

I cannot say enough good things about this book! If you are serious about accomplishing your goals or frustrated with feeling like you have a graveyard of unfinished goals, this book is for you. It reveals the lies of perfection we believe that keep us from completing our goals and achieving our dreams. Jon provides easy, doable strategies to help us actually make progress and eventually achieve them. The book came into my hands at the perfect time as I have a rather large goal of completing and submitting a book proposal for my own book idea, and then finishing writing the entire book. With the book’s help, I recognized the ways perfection has tripped me up in the past and might do it again. I have set up strategies and countermeasures to defeat perfectionism and cross the finish line. One of my favorite pieces of advice is to make the goal fun. At first I wasn’t sure how to do that with a writing goal, but the book reminded me that we all have our own unique (and possibly weird) things that we find fun. A couple of ideas that work for me are singing a few worship songs before I begin writing and also find opportunities to write outdoors in nature. If fear of any sort is keeping you from working on a goal – fear of failure, imperfection, criticism, etc – pick up this book and find the truth among perfectionism’s lies and discover motivation to press through to the victory of “done”. I will be referencing this book when preparing for future goals. It's helpful, funny, and fun!

The book can be read easily and quickly but I find there is not a lot of actual content. The author has a thesis that perfectionism is what keeps us from finishing and mostly describes why. But each explanation is surounded by a lot of personal stories/movie references/jokes which do not add much value. As often when reading book of this kind the author talk a lot about his own struggling in writing a book/being successful, which makes it less relatable. Finishing a book is a difficult thing but has a clear and distinctive finish contrary to a lot of other goals. Some good advices at the start of the book though.