Completer Finisher

Today has been productive. Very productive. In fact, I have some news.

Today I completed every item on my To Do list.

This might not seem a big deal to you but it is to me.

I love a to do list. I can't live without them. My brain has taken on sieve-like qualities and if I don't write stuff down there's no chance it'll get done.

But oddly I have a mental block when it comes to doing everything on my list. I like the sense of accomplishment I get when I cross something off, but most of the time I'll be quite happy just doing about 75-80% of the items on it. That rarely bears any relation to how challenging or time-consuming the tasks are - I just feel no real need to finish.

I had a friend at uni who came round for lunch most Sundays. I quite often ended up cooking and I started to notice that she always left a little bit of food on her plate. It didn't matter what we were eating, there was always just a little bit left at the end. After a few weeks of this I asked her why she never finished her meal. She looked slightly bemused and said she'd never really thought about it, she just did.

A few years ago, when I was on the Arrow Leadership Programme we had to do a whole load of personality inventories. Some I found really helpful, some I don't remember. All I remember from one is that I'm not a Completer Finisher. My housemate is. She has to see a task through from beginning to end - if she can't finish something in one sitting she'd rather not start. She has no problem doing everything on her to do list.

So completing my to do list really is a massive achievement for me. I genuinely don't think I've ever done it before and I'm feeling pretty pleased with myself, if I'm honest!

Question is, can I do it again tomorrow?