Other people are starters<\/em>. They have a lot of enthusiasm for new efforts, but somehow fail to reach a conclusion with most of the efforts they begin.<\/p>\n If you feel like you\u2019re more of a starter than a finisher, that\u2019s not a reason to be alarmed. Indeed, I have a lot of sympathy for you; I used to be a frequent starter and infrequent finisher myself.<\/p>\n \u2028And starters should be proud. Even though you may not complete all your projects, there is at least a strong desire to do things and enthusiasm for life. It\u2019s far better to be constantly seized by ideas for your life than to have no aspirations at all.<\/p>\n However, in both my personal experience and work with students over the last two decades, I know that becoming a consistent finisher is not always easy, even when you know it can produce dramatic benefits over time.<\/p>\n So today, let me share with you a three-step process you can use to become a more consistent finisher:<\/p>\n Projects that are more specific are also more successful. The raw materials that spark our motivations are often sprawling and vague. It takes work to shape them into a format we can make progress on.<\/p>\n Consider the following projects, ordered from most general to most specific:<\/p>\n Each rung you ascend on the ladder of specificity makes your project more actionable, and more likely that you\u2019ll successfully complete it before moving on.<\/p>\n Motivation fades with time. The race you began with a sprint often ends with a slog. There\u2019s a simple fix for this: choose shorter periods of time to focus.<\/p>\n For open-ended projects where improvement is continuous (e.g., fitness, language learning, research on a topic), limit your first several projects to one-month sprints. Remember: you can always stack projects working on the same goal back-to-back, but working in short bursts keeps you focused.<\/p>\n If your project is defined by all-or-nothing achievements (e.g., launching a business, writing a book, graduating from college), then I recommend either finding short-term milestones to focus your effort (e.g., getting one client, writing a book proposal, passing your next exam) OR being pickier when taking on longer projects. A four-year project should inspire much more thought before embarking than a four-week effort.<\/p>\n Once you pick a project, commit to finish it or to deliberately put it aside before picking a new one. Resist the urge to start any new projects until you\u2019ve exited out of your last one.<\/p>\n While there\u2019s always a little slipperiness in what, exactly, constitutes a project, the intention is what matters most. Habits, routine work and the \u201cwhirlwind\u201d of your daily life will continue, but steel yourself against committing to new projects until your previous one officially concludes.<\/span>1<\/sup><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n Becoming a project finisher<\/em>, not just a starter<\/em>, isn\u2019t something that happens all at once. Instead, it\u2019s a meta-habit, a kind of practice you establish and reinforce through repeated experience. It takes some time and practice to learn, but by choosing the right sorts of projects\u2014and completing them consistently\u2014you can take your life in any direction you wish.<\/p>\n _ _ _<\/p>\n Next week, I\u2019m going to be holding a new session of my course, Rapid Learner<\/a>. This course teaches the strategy I\u2019ve used for my learning projects, such as the MIT Challenge<\/a>, Year Without English<\/a> and, most recently, Foundations<\/a>. In this six-week course, I\u2019ll teach you not only how to design successful projects, but to optimize your learning and results. But first, I\u2019d like to share how you can go from finishing projects to making those projects effective<\/em>\u2014choosing activities that are likely to accelerate your learning.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" If I were to describe one practice that, when sustained over time, could produce the greatest benefits for your life, it would be this: regularly starting\u2014and completing\u2014meaningful projects. Projects are bigger than individual tasks, but still aim to complete some concrete set of actions. A project can be all sorts of things. It can be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-17169","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-personal-development","7":"entry"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/1-Starters-finishers.jpg\")
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1. Be specific<\/strong><\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/2-Project-motivation.jpg\")
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2. Be brief<\/strong> <\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/3-Project-time-motivation.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n3. Only one project at a time<\/strong><\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/4-Project-vs-time.jpg\")
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