Antidote

I suffer from "completion syndrome," which means I obsess over finishing everything perfectly, whether it's reading a book, watching a TV show, finishing slides in a deck, designing screens of an app or even eating a bag of chips. While this trait helped me excel in school and work, it's not as helpful in leadership roles, as it can make me impatient and anxious.

Lately, I've been experimenting with ways to feel accomplished without necessarily completing everything. One method that has worked well for me is “setting a quota for completion”.

For example, when reading a book, I'll allocate a specific amount of time each day (in my case, two Pomodoros) to read and write. I don't necessarily finish the entire book this way, but I do finish chapters and reflect on what I've learned instantly.

This method can be applied to other activities as well, like eating (especially if you have a binge eating disorder) or watching TV episodes (avoid binge watching seasons together) , and it's more fulfilling in the long run. The power of atomic completion is truly mind-blowing.

P.S: that is just chapter 17 reflective reading from Eric Barker’s Plays well with others.