Decide What Done Looks Like Before You Start

A meaningful project without a finish line quietly turns into a source of guilt. The book that is never finished enough to submit, the room that is never quite organized enough to call complete — the goalposts keep moving because you never set them in the first place.

Before you start something that matters, write one sentence describing what finished actually looks like. A defined ending is what turns an open-ended weight into a completed act you can point to. You can always start something new afterward — but let this one end.