Are there areas in your life where you’ve left uncompleted projects or failed to get closure with people? When you don’t complete the past, you can’t be free to fully embrace the present.
Get into completion consciousness
Continually ask yourself, When does it take to actually get this task completed? Then you can begin to consciously take that next step of filing completed documents, mailing in the forms required, or reporting back to your boss that the project has been completed. The truth is that 20 things completed have more power than 50 things half completed.
The four D’s of completion
One way to take care of to-do items is something we’ve all seen in time management courses: Do it, delegate it, delay it, or dump it. When you pick up a piece of paper, decide then and there whether you’ll ever do anything with it. If not, dump it. If you can take care of it within 10 minutes, do it immediately. If you still want to take care of it yourself, but know it will take longer, delay it by filing it in a folder of things to do later. If you can’t do it yourself or don’t want to take the time, delegate it to someone you trust to accomplish the task. Be sure to have the person report back when he or she finishes the task so that you know it is complete.
* Source: The Success Principles by Jack Canfield