As a dedicated career professional who seeks to get things done, to become known for one’s accomplishments, and perhaps be cited as a high achiever, it is vitally important to take control of your environment, minimize interruptions, associate with other get-it-done types, and embrace the notion of “completion-thinking.” As you look around your office, what strikes you as having been left incomplete?

• Are piles building up in corners around the room?
• Are post-it pads serving as proxy to-do list items adorning your desk and computer monitor?
• Do you have stacks of unopened mail?
• Is your message light blinking?

You can extend these same types of observations to your home as well as many other aspects of your life. When you’re entirely honest with yourself, chances are you find that there are visible signs of incompletions all around you. It’s not mandatory to be in total control of your work space, but it helps.

Your Incompletions, Your Career

Considering the larger picture, what is incomplete in your career? Are there key instructions, an agenda, a road map, a blueprint or an action map of some sort that you know is valid and appropriate with which you have yet to take action?

• Are there vital courses that you need to be taking?
• Are there key contacts within your industry with whom you haven’t initiated contact?
• Are there other initiatives you have in mind that you let sit for years?

Of course there are! Each item represents an incompletion. Fortunately, the path to completions, big and small, is to keep acknowledging yourself whenever you do indeed complete something. As we’ll discuss in the next chapter, your brain can’t tell the difference between something as small as sending out a letter versus completing a major training session. By acknowledging yourself for the smaller completions, you actually pave the way for greater and grander completions. The brain appreciates closure.

Open the Door, Set the Stage

Completions represent a nice, neat ending to what you’ve just accomplished and a great beginning for whatever is next. Giving yourself a completion for some minor task actually opens the door and sets the stage, if you will, for tackling something much larger. Go ahead, give yourself a completion, and make your day!

What Is Incomplete for You?

• What’s Incomplete in Your Office?
• What’s Incomplete in Your Career?
• What’s Incomplete in Your Relationships?
• What’s Incomplete in Your Home?
• What’s Incomplete in Your Life?

If you want to finish work each night with a valid sense of accomplishment, give yourself acknowledgment for completing what you did get done. Acknowledging yourself for all you actually finished is the surest method of leaving without feeling beaten and often proves to be uplifting.