If you are a curious person, you probably know what it means to start a new activity. You feel empowered, innovative, ready to fully dedicate yourself to it. You feel at the best place your mind can be.
Such great feelings, though, can get you to start many activities without finishing them. Soon, despair and procrastination show up at your door. This activity creep is counter productive for your mental health and happiness.
Fear not! The solution is simple: do less activities, but finish them all. Get to the end of the marathon. Get to the chequered flag.
I received this feedback from my Team Captain at work, in March. He cared to highlight how there is something special about getting to finish an activity you put your effort into. Be it a programming side project, a blog post, doing house work, or anything else. Moreover, finishing an activity means that you can interact with its output, the result. You can debate its content, correct its problems, delete it in its entirety, share it with others.
Until the date I received this feedback, my situation was dreadful: I was working a full time job, crawling over my master’s degree’s end, participating in a student association, seeking for a programming side project, and learning Ukrainian. One can argue that I was set for a burnout, or at least for a mere sense of incompleteness. Since that day I exited the association, stopped seeking for a programming side project, and postponed learning Ukrainian to after my graduation. I suddenly found myself having lots of free time, which I dedicated to my studies.
The do less approach empowers you with a tool that you can use in all aspects of your life: relationships with people, sports, hobbies, work. It’s quite powerful in its simplicity.
Being a curious person feels amazing, but can become a double-edged sword. If you have the courage to start something, have the courage to get to the end. Remember the mantra: do less, but finish it.