# On finishing things

![rw-book-cover](https://readwise-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/static/images/article1.be68295a7e40.png)

## Metadata
- Author: [[alexreichert.com]]
- Full Title: On finishing things
- Category: #articles
- URL: https://www.alexreichert.com/blog/finishing

> [!note]
> **Background:** I aim to enhance my efficiency in project management to better organize, execute, and share my personal projects, ensuring that I can bring them to completion while maintaining accountability and clarity in my goals.
> ### Key Takeaways:
> 🚀 **Establish Clear Project Specifications:**
> Create detailed project specifications upfront, outlining goals, requirements, and expectations. This will help clarify the end goal and provide a roadmap to follow, reducing the likelihood of getting sidetracked by perfectionism or indecision. 
> ⏰ **Implement Timeboxing:**
> Set specific deadlines for each project to instill a sense of urgency and accountability. This strategy helps combat procrastination and promotes discipline, ensuring that projects are completed in a timely manner.
> 🌍 **Share Work Publicly:**
> Regularly share your projects and progress with a wider audience. This not only fosters accountability but also encourages you to reflect on your work more rigorously. Sharing can provide valuable feedback and boost motivation, knowing that others are invested in your progress.
> [!tldr]
> Finishing projects can be really challenging, as it's often unclear when something is truly complete. Sharing work publicly can help overcome this difficulty and offer personal growth, accountability, and potential connections. To improve, setting clear goals and deadlines can make it easier to push through to the finish line.

## Highlights
This begs the question: why is it important to share your work with the world?
First, because there's practically no downside, and very, very high potential upside. - [[favorite]]  - ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j68aj6hyksvsfzm62xr7y5k7))

because it's weirdly therapeutic. In the same way that journaling can alleviate anxiety by externalizing it, writing publicly encourages you to process your thoughts more rigorously, and launching an app forces you to find out if your idea has legs or not. - [[productivity]]  - ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j68akfqnw95egtaczyadh2z8))

First of all, more often than not, the end goal is neither clear nor concrete. It's not obvious where the "finish line" even is. When this is the case, it's easy to procrastinate by nitpicking the design, adding little flourishes, or using "perfectionism" as an excuse. - [[favorite]] [[productivity]]  - ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j68anqkv399fr50q8qhehvgm))

I think there are two strategies that would help a lot: 1) writing a spec (i.e. a plan) upfront, and 2) timeboxing the project by giving myself a deadline. - [[productivity]] [[favorite]]  - ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j68aq1fbhqx79hp9mnvn39n1))

I've started setting up a [projects page](https://www.alexreichert.com/projects), where I plan to share the specs, demos, and retrospectives of my personal projects. Even for the "unfinished" ones, sharing them here gives me a small sense of closure. - ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j68ath2r2az2v2hwzc6y7jxt))

