How to start projects you’ll actually finish

If I was to describe one practice that, when sustained over time, could produce the greatest benefits for your life, it would be this: regularly starting — and completing — meaningful projects.

Projects are bigger than individual tasks, but still aim to complete some concrete set of actions. A project can be all sorts of things. It can be a goal to start exercising, a plan to learn French, moving to a new city, or getting a new job.

Most of us have many projects, including the active strivings of our daily life, as well as daydreams about hobbies we’d like to learn, sports we’d like to try or career moves we might want to make.

But even though we all have projects, there is an enormous difference in our propensity to complete them.

Some people are finishers. Their life is a steady conveyor belt of realized goals and projects.

Other people are starters. They have a lot of enthusiasm for new efforts, but somehow fail to reach a conclusion with most of the efforts they begin.

If you feel like you’re more of a starter than a finisher, that’s not a reason to be alarmed. Indeed, I have a lot of sympathy for you; I used to be a frequent starter and infrequent finisher myself.