There are people for whom this is a serious problem: as soon as more than half of any task is completed, they lose enthusiasm and energy. Suddenly they have many other urgent tasks and many other reasons not to continue.
Why does it happen like that?
As a rule, the root cause is deep and stems from childhood. For example, parents may not have allowed a child to finish any tasks. They would finish them themselves because it is faster that way. In this case, the child (who later becomes an adult) may subconsciously start believing that to be liked by the parents he should not finish what he started. Later in life, he would continue replaying the same scenario of not finishing.
There may be other reasons too. But in any case, some painful past events prevent a person from being reliable and responsible. At the same time, strangely, this behavior protects them from strong or negative emotions.
While the homework is not done, the presentation is not finished, the report is not finalized they feel somehow… better. After we finish our projects, we no longer have control over them. They start their independent existence without us, and other people evaluate them. And… evaluation is scary because if the result is not appraised favorably, the author may start doubting themselves and their skills. Therefore, it turns out that incompleteness is healing – there is no finish – there is no assessment, and you can feel psychologically safe.
What do you need to do if unfinished projects are your issue?
1. Do not blame or corner yourself by phrases: “yet again I…”, “once more I…”, etc.
2. It is much more useful to ask yourself “What do I plan to do to successfully finish my projects?”
3. Have a plan! A clear and well-designed plan helps you stay on track. List all the phases and the time needed to complete each of them.
4. Eat your pie piece by piece. You can’t swallow the whole pie at once. Cut it into bite-size pieces and eat them one by one. Do not create one humongous task. Instead, you should have many little tasks that you can easily finish.
5. Ask yourself – why am I doing it? Motivation is very important. Remind yourself, what is going to change in your life when you finally finish this project?
6. Encourage yourself. Celebrate every little victory by giving yourself some small present or taking a little break.
No matter why you are stopping at halfway, you can overcome this with the help of insightful analysis and by considering the traits of your personality.
Self-therapy can be an essential tool for personal growth and self-improvement.
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