Letting open loops linger like cheap candle

Perfectionist?

No problem. Once you accept that perfect is an illusion and mistakes are inevitable, you won’t delay task completion.

It’s easier said than done, but nonetheless true.

Overwhelmed? Well, of course you are. And since the only way out is through, try rechanneling all of your nervous energy into forward motion. Action absorbs anxiety.

Unmotivated? Welcome to the club. Just know that completing tasks activates the brain’s reward system and releases dopamine. Which reinforces satisfaction derived from finishing tasks, which makes motivation easier next time.

Afraid of failure? Naturally. So consider this. There’s no such thing as a wrong decision you make, there is only the path you take. Regret is a choice. Unhook your brain from that binary thinking, and suddenly, being done with things will become second nature.

Just do it and be done with it.

Nike comes to mind, whose legendary slogan is the first half of my principle. But with all due respect for their marketing agency back in the eighties, their team failed to underscore the other element of the principle, which is, and be done with it.

People miss that part. It’s amazing just how much we undervalue cognitive closure. All of our anxiety about what we can’t see; and all of our fear about what we can see, those feelings overshadow our natural desire for completion.

Even though humans are naturally inclined to resolve incomplete experiences, we still manage to get in our own way. Myself included. I’m not so enlightened that I don’t let open loops linger like cheap candle. Bothers the bejesus out of me.

But I find the mantra really does help. Just do it and be done with it.

Particularly with other people. I’ve worked on many teams in my life, both at work and elsewhere, and these words usually inject a much needed dose of energy into the room.

If people are going around and around in circles, jerking themselves off a little too much about some minor decision, eventually I announce, guys, let’s just do it and be done with it.

Typically these words hang in the air for a moment, and the silence is palpable. But eight times out of ten, people will acquiesce and say, yeah you’re right, let’s go with the blue one.

So we all collectively take a deep breath, break the impasse, and settle on a decision. Which frees us to move forward and eschew the anxiety that was holding us hostage.

Just do it and be done with it.