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Finish What You Start

This document summarizes key points from "Finish What You Start" by Peter Hollins on developing the discipline to finish what you start. It discusses that finishing requires focus, action, resisting distraction, and persistence. However, when inspiration fades these "follow through muscles" weaken. The ego then raises unrealistic standards to avoid failure. The document recommends adopting a "finishing = learning" mindset and creating a "finishing manifesto" with rules like stating an "I want, I will, I won't" to strengthen follow through muscles and consistently work towards goals. It also suggests conducting a "10-10-10" where you imagine procrastinating for increasing time periods to experience future regret and motivate present action

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Sathiyaseelan
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470 views

Finish What You Start

This document summarizes key points from "Finish What You Start" by Peter Hollins on developing the discipline to finish what you start. It discusses that finishing requires focus, action, resisting distraction, and persistence. However, when inspiration fades these "follow through muscles" weaken. The ego then raises unrealistic standards to avoid failure. The document recommends adopting a "finishing = learning" mindset and creating a "finishing manifesto" with rules like stating an "I want, I will, I won't" to strengthen follow through muscles and consistently work towards goals. It also suggests conducting a "10-10-10" where you imagine procrastinating for increasing time periods to experience future regret and motivate present action

Uploaded by

Sathiyaseelan
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Insights 

from Finish What You Start by Peter Hollins 
Finishing what you start requires four follow‐through muscles: focusing, taking action, resisting distraction, and persisting. 

When you start a new project, you’re full of ideas and experience a surge of inspiration which helps you focus, take action, resist 
distraction, and persist. But when inspiration fades, your follow‐through muscles weaken without the performance‐enhancing effects of 
inspiration. The ego doesn't want to admit weakness or risk failure so it puts up a “perfectionism” roadblock by raising the finishing 
requirements. With the finishing requirements seemingly out of reach, you lose interest and fail to finish what you started.  

The first step to finishing what you start is to knock over the “perfectionism” roadblock by adopting a finishing = learning mindset. 

Adopt a Finishing = Learning Mindset 
Peter Holland says, “You only learn certain things if you see them through to the end. If you don’t follow 
through, then you don’t learn all that you have to do and you don’t learn anything about yourself except that you 
are lazy or afraid or a failure.” 

When you finish a project, you get the opportunity to evaluate your work, adjust, and develop a better method. A 
finished product that fails to meet your expectations is infinitely more valuable than a product you don't finish. 
You can complete a terrible website people laugh at, but that terrible website is an excellent stepping stone to your next website.  

Once you adopt a finishing = learning mindset, you can keep “perfectionism” at bay and start strengthening your follow‐through muscles.  

Create a Finishing Manifesto 
The follow‐through muscles that help you focus, take action, resist distraction, and persist take time to develop 
and atrophy quickly when you stop following through on your plan. The key to strengthening your follow‐through 
muscles is to execute your plan consistently. A great way to execute consistently is to create a “finishing 
manifesto.”  

A manifesto is a simple set of rules you follow without exception. Your manifesto can contain one rule or ten rules. 
I like to keep my manifesto to two rules.  

Manifesto Rule #1: When it's time to work, I state an “I want. I will. I won't.”  
Each week I schedule a one‐hour “Course creation” time block in my calendar. When I receive a calendar notification from my “Course 
creation” time block, I quietly tell myself: 

 "I want to experience the satisfaction of finishing my course on accelerated learning.” 
 “I will brainstorm ideas and outline the next module for two minutes.”
 “I won't check my email for the next hour."

Schedule time blocks in your calendar to work on your “must finish” project every week until that project is complete. When the next time 
block arrives, state what you want, what you will do first, and what you won’t do. 

Your “I want” is the end state you ultimately want to reach. When you state “I want…” you connect your immediate actions to a 
meaningful goal in the future.  

Your “I will” is a small action you're willing to take right now. The smaller, the better. Don't underestimate the power of small steps to get 
started and build momentum. Inertia is procrastination's most potent weapon, but super small starting actions disarm that weapon. 

Your “I won't” is what you will avoid doing to ensure you stay on task. When you state your “I won’t…” you identify your most common 
form of procrastination. Maybe you like to check your phone for messages, browse the latest news headlines, or waste ten minutes finding 
the perfect song you’ll work to.  

Studies show that setting an implementation intention, like an “I want. I will. I won't.”, can triple the rate you follow through.  

Manifesto Rule #2: When I'm about to procrastinate, I will conduct a 10‐10‐10. 
Your future self wants to finish long‐term goals but needs your present self to act on its behalf. The problem is your present self only cares 
about obtaining immediate pleasure and avoiding immediate pain.  When it comes time to work on your long‐term goals, your present self 
isn’t motivated to act because the reward is distant, and there is no immediate pain associated to procrastinating. But if you can get your 
present self to travel into the future and experience the pain of not following through, you can kickstart your present self into action. 

The next time you're scheduled to start working on a project but don't feel like doing it, allow yourself to feel lazy, and then imagine how 
you'll feel after procrastinating for 10 minutes. Now imagine procrastinating for 10 hours. Then imagine procrastinating for 10 days.  

When I imagine procrastinating for 10 days, the guilt I experience is strong and painful because I don't want to be known as a person who 
doesn't follow through on his intentions. As my present self experiences the future pain of not following through, I remind myself, “this 
pain can all go away if I take action right now…” 

The finishing = learning mindset coupled with a finishing manifesto will make you an unstoppable finisher who gets to 
enjoy the pride and satisfaction that comes from finishing what you start. 

www.ProductivityGame.com

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