Book Reviews

Jon Acuff’s Finish Book Review

Reading Jon Acuff‘s book Finish is like hanging out with a best friend who makes you feel better for not finishing things. But then, like a best friend, he helps you to see the path to finishing things that are important to you.

Perfectionism Is the Enemy

Jon says there’s two things we must do to fight off perfectionism. The first is realize that no one is going to die if we make a small slip in our plans. We often get derailed thinking if we blew it this once, we shouldn’t even keep trying.

The second skill we need is to develop tolerance for imperfection. Our path isn’t going to be perfect. And it’s not going to be free of mistakes. So we need to learn to remove “Might as well…” from our vocabulary.

Big Goals Kill Success

This advice goes against everything we were ever told about setting goals, doesn’t it? Dream big! Shoot for the stars, and you’ll still hit the moon!

But Jon says it backfires.

We need goals that we can achieve in order to build up momentum. For example, if our goal was to lose 5kg of fat, and we only lost 4kg, we might be disappointed.

But if we set the goal to lose 2.5kg and we lost that same 4, we’d be thrilled. It’s the same amount, but it’s how our brains frame it.

Jon had the example of a friend of his who went to the gym every day. He suddenly decided it would be a great idea to sign up for a triathlon in 8 months time.

His friend crafted a well-thought out training schedule.

And then he never went to the gym again.

So the big goal ruined his great habit. Don’t let that happen to you. Make sure you truly believe you can achieve your goal, and then set yourself up for success by cutting the goal in half or extending the time to achieve it.

Cut the Goal in Half

Whatever your focused goal is, cut it in half.

If you want to save money, pay down debt, reduce spending, lose weight, eat more home cooked meals, exercise more, reduce the amount of time you spend at the office, halve that goal.

You’ll probably notice Perfectionism popping up it’s head around now. But as Jon says, cutting a goal in half is Kryptonite for Perfectionism.

It makes no sense and sends a message to your brain about your intentions that you’re choosing to set yourself up for success.

Extend the Time

If you have a goal that you don’t want to cut in half, then extend the time.

Jon’s example was the idea of cleaning and decluttering your home. Instead of insisting that you must get the whole place done in one month, extend it to three or four months.

Perfectionism rears its ugly head again and says “It’ll go faster than you think.” It’s once again trying to set you up for failure.

Pay no heed to Perfectionism!

You’ve lived this long with your house in the current state. Extending your timeline a few months won’t have any impact.

Unless you’re hosting a party and need to clean up the place. In which case, identify the key rooms and make those your focus.

What If You Can’t

What if you have a deadline at work? You can’t go to your boss and tell them that you will only do half but it’ll be really great work.

It is demoralizing to be working towards a goal that everyone knows isn’t achievable.

So use these skills to help temper dangerous optimism and planning fallacy in your group as soon as possible.

That way, the team will be more successful and happier overall, and will achieve more success in the long term.

Spend Time Reflecting

Can you think of a goal you had recently that you didn’t achieve, or decided to drop? Was it too big?

Find someone you can trust and ask them if they think the goal is achievable.

And remember the phrase “What’s the worst that could happen if….I cut my goal in half or I extend the time?”

Get Rid of What Is Holding You Back

Jon calls this “Bombing.” To put it another way, he’s looking at what he can let go and not succeed in to free himself up to be successful in his chosen goal.

In his life, he chooses to be bad at email, Snapchat, and television.

If you’re like me, you’ll laugh out loud at his description of how he chose not to care about lawn care when he had two toddlers.

Jon also calls letting go of things “Strategic Incompetence.” I love the idea that you’re choosing not to try to master everything but only the thing that’s most important to you.

Say No to Shame

What I loved the most about this chapter was this section.

How many times have you felt shame for a messy house when you were busy taking care of the family when they were all sick?

Your life shouldn’t be on a fragile system that falls apart when one things goes wrong. We’re stronger and more beautiful than one small incident.

And we should come up with our own standards and not be held back by others.

Just Say No

We want to be everything to everyone all the time, but that leaves nothing left for ourselves.

It’s okay to strategically not see friends for a short period of time while you’re focused.

As Jon says, “if someone gets mad at you for saying no, they just confirmed you were supposed to say that in the first place.”

Jon also has advice for what to do if you just can’t say no. What if you’re the person who feeds the household. You can’t tell them to go without food for a week while you study for an exam.

But there are ways to simplify and limit the demands of time on you.

Get Rid of Your Excuses

Jon wrote a long chapter about secret hiding places and noble obstacles.

For example, if you have a deadline, and you instead choose to do laundry, you’re in a hiding place. It takes courage to recognize where your personal hiding places are.

A trusted friend or loved one may be able to help you identify yours.

The noble obstacle is that thought “If you’re going to do it, you might as well do it right.”

But what does “right” mean?

Since it’s not defined, your brain and Perfectionism uses that as a way of keeping you from starting.

Use Data to Celebrate Your Imperfect Progress

This chapter was quite powerful.

We know when we make mistakes. They’re clear to us.

But how often do we know when we’ve made progress?

How many times are we told to keep our eyes on the road ahead and don’t look back?

That can be useful when you’re first getting started. But at some point, it helps to look back and reflect upon how far you’ve gone.

Data cuts through Perfectionism.

If your goal was to pay down a credit card and it’s not paid off yet, you could feel like you’re not doing “enough.” But if you reflect on the initial balance, and that you created a budget that you’re following, you can see the good habits you’re putting into place.

And those habits are what get you to the goal line. Not the small mistakes. Not achieving an impossible goal in an impossible deadline.

My Final Thoughts

No matter what your goal is, make sure it’s fun. And make sure it’s truly your goal.

You shouldn’t spend any time in this lifetime doing things that aren’t joyful.

If you can, I’d recommend getting this as an audiobook. Jon reads it, and his style is engaging. Plus, there’s extra material in the audiobook that isn’t in the actual book.

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