The Power of Completion

We each have only a few hours of time to be productive with work each day. Managing our time wisely, being intentional about what we give priority (and what we decide not to do) is a key skill in product work and in life. When I was working in product roles, it always felt like I could easily spend five times the hours I actually had in a normal work week and still not feel “done”. Working at a pace and scope way beyond 40 hours felt tempting and was often role-modelled by the product people around me. But it’s not sustainable and I had to learn to be able to say “no” to things. Which is where this topic of completion (and the related concept of closure) comes in.

If you feel stressed, overwhelmed or super busy (which most likely is true for the majority of humans in product roles) it’s essential to bring some things to completion so you can have space to focus on the most important topics, and also to have space and capacity for new things and innovation. Don’t forget that resting and pausing and activities that bring you joy also needs space in your life.

In a way you can think of completion as a sister concept to priorities. If something is not a priority and important to you in some way, it’s likely a candidate for completion. This time of the year we can also see this role-modelled all around us in nature. The leaves are falling, a natural cycle of growth is coming to completion with a period of decay in fall and rest in winter. How might we tap into the wisdom of these stopping and resting cycles as humans?

How to find the things you may want to bring to completion?

To identify what you might want to bring to completion it is first necessary to explore and know what is truly important. What matters in your life? And what matters in your product role? Do you know what your vision and strategy is? Do you know what outcomes you want to prioritize? Do you have a clear understanding of the impact you want to create? The answers to these questions inform your choices of what you want to do.

If you don’t know the answers to those questions (and honestly for a good part of my product life I did not have decent clarity on these), start with making space to do discovery work, to sit down and reflect on your values (there are great resources to do this with, just reach out with a message and I’m happy to share!). Either schedule time for these reflections, or bring some part of your busy day to completion to free up time to do the work on vision, strategy and values.

Let’s assume you do know what your vision, strategy and values are. Sometimes we forget that we need space to simply be idle, to pause, to do something seemingly non-sensical, just because it sparks some joy for us. Some of our best new ideas are born out of having time to be idle. We relax, enjoy and re-gain strength, focus and a general sense of wellbeing when we don’t feel rushed and controlled by a super full agenda every day.

I would challenge you to bring enough things to completion, so you can have idle time. Time to enjoy a relaxed and random chat with a colleague, time to just go for a walk, time to browse a magazine, read a book or sit in the bathtub and soak. Take an honest look at your calendar. Are there free spaces in it? If you see less than 20% of this week’s calendar as free, you are likely saying “yes” to too many things still.

What are the benefits of bringing things to completion?

Every time we have an unfinished task started, it actually adds stress and mental load to our life. Unfinished tasks stay on our mind longer than finished ones. There is even a name for this: The Zeigarnik Effect. It suggests that people remember incomplete or interrupted tasks more easily than tasks that have been completed. It’s believed that incomplete tasks create a state of tension and cognitive dissonance, which improves our ability to recall details about the task. The tension and mental intrusion created by unfinished tasks can motivate people to complete them, seeking resolution and mental comfort.

It actually feels good to check something off as “done”. Bringing something to completion is giving us a sense of satisfaction. As we often have very long and complex projects, it’s good to break them down into smaller chunks, so we can have a sense of completion of these work units. While also not starting too many of them at the same time. When we have too many tasks open and unresolved, we’re feeling stressed or overwhelmed, which is not good for our mental health.

When you generally feel like you have too much on your plate and you feel rushed and stressed most of the time, thinking about taking something off to have a lighter load can bring much needed rest and relief. Making this a periodic reflection and inquiry can be a good way to free up time and have a bit more ease in life. The benefit here is actively prioritizing yourself and your mental health.

Here is a free completion exercise and worksheet for you:

Make it a ritual to “complete” things. It will make it easier to let some things go and free up more time for you:

1. Block an hour of time in your calendar for this exercise
2. Download this worksheet to help with this practice:

Here are instruction for how to fill out this worksheet:

1. Write what you know about your goals and values at the top of the sheet (this helps you decide what is important for you)
2. Make a list of the activities you regularly do that take up at least 1h of your time each week (Think of your whole life – personal life and job)
   • Are they important for your vision / goal / strategy / values? (If the answer is no, this could be a great thing to bring to completion)
   • Does it bring joy? (If the answer is yes, then you may want to keep it, unless it contradicts your vision and goals)
   • Can this be delegated? (That might also free up your time!)
   • Can this be stopped? (If so, who needs to know about it?)
3. Ask yourself: What is one thing I can commit to bringing to completion in the next 4 weeks?
4. Tell an accountability partner about your intention (could be your spouse, a good friend, your boss, your colleague). Telling somebody about this will make it more likely that you will stick to your intention.
5. Explain what you chose to stop doing to whoever needs to know, and write down how you are going to bring this to completion (could be as simple as cancelling a meeting, or may need a formal “closing ceremony” of some sort).
6. Make a new appointment for yourself to repeat this exercise in 3-6 months (put it in your calendar now, or else you’ll forget it!)

Would love to hear from you how this is going and what you’re deciding to complete and no longer do.

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If you would like to explore this more: reach out for a free coaching session with me.
I coach, speak, do workshops and blog about #leadership, #product leadership, #AIEthics #innovation, the #importance of creating a culture of belonging and how to succeed with your #hybrid or #remote teams.

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