Stop Starting, Start Finishing: Takeaways from Jon Acuff's 'Finish'

Are you a chronic starter but a rare finisher? You're not alone. Jon Acuff's book, Finish: Give Yourself the Gift of Done, tackles this common struggle head-on. His central argument? The culprit isn't laziness; it's perfectionism.

That little voice whispering "If it's not perfect, it's not worth doing" is sabotaging your goals. Here’s a breakdown of Acuff's key strategies to silence that voice and actually get things done.

1. Perfectionism is the Enemy, Not the Goal

Embrace Imperfection: Nothing starts perfect. The real work begins after the first setback, mistake, or deviation from the plan. How you react the "day after" something goes wrong is what truly matters.
Perfectionism Kills Excellence: Waiting for the perfect moment, the perfect plan, or the perfect result often means nothing gets finished at all. Done is better than perfect. Aim for completion, then iterate.

2. Cut Your Goals (Seriously!)

Beware the Planning Fallacy: We consistently overestimate our future free time and underestimate how long tasks will take (thanks, Kahneman & Tversky!). This optimism bias sets us up for failure.
Cut it in Half: Feeling ambitious? Great. Now, cut that goal in half, or double the time you think it will take. This drastically reduces the chance of feeling overwhelmed and quitting. Finishing a smaller goal is infinitely better than abandoning a larger one.

3. Make it Fun

Fun = Success: We're far more likely to stick with something we enjoy. If a goal feels like a slog, find ways to inject fun.
Reward Yourself: Set up small, frequent rewards for hitting milestones (daily or weekly, not just at the very end).
Gamify Deadlines: Instead of one big, looming deadline, create smaller, daily deadlines to get that satisfying rush of completion more often.
Find Your Intrinsic Motivation: Connect the task to something you genuinely care about. Why are you really doing this?

4. Strategic Incompetence: It's Okay to Be Bad at Things

You Can't Ace Everything: Trying to be perfect at every single task related to your goal is exhausting and unrealistic.
Choose Where to "Fail": Identify tasks that are less critical to your main goal and allow yourself to do them minimally or "badly." Spending hours perfecting the formatting of your rough draft prevents you from finishing the writing. Give yourself permission to be strategically incompetent in less important areas.

5. Identify Your Hidden Rules

Unmask Your Perfectionist Rules: We all have hidden rules like "If it's easy, it can't be valuable," or "If I don't see massive results in a week, it's a failure." These arbitrary rules create unnecessary pressure.
Challenge Them: Ask yourself: Is this rule actually true? Is it serving me? What do I really want to achieve? Replace rigid rules with flexible guidelines.

6. Defeat the "Day Before Done" Demons

Fear of Finishing: As the end nears, perfectionism strikes again with "what-if" fears: What if people hate it? What if I fail? What if I succeed and don't know what's next?
Focus on the Process: Don't get paralyzed by hypothetical future outcomes. Focus on the task at hand – finishing. The satisfaction of keeping a promise to yourself often outweighs external validation or criticism.

Finish is a practical and often humorous guide to quieting the inner critic that holds us back. By recognizing perfectionism's tricks and applying these strategies, you can finally experience the rewarding gift of done.