We tend to hold ourselves to the rules that others have laid out for us.

We think the end of the race can only be where the organizers drew the finish line. That the product is finished only when its contents are completely consumed. That the book is finished when we’ve read the whole thing.

That’s true in principle, but not always in practice.

Being a true completionist means giving ourselves the freedom to define our own processes, and, when necessary, honor those over the ones prescribed by others.

Being a completionist can mean using the bottle in its entirety, but it occasionally means ditching a half-used moisturizer when it isn’t working for you (life is too short to risk bad skin!). It may mean reading the book cover to cover, or it may mean absorbing all we care to in the first thirty pages, and then passing it along.

Sometimes our personal race spans the entire, official course. Sometimes, when we’ve pushed as hard as we can and our ankles are aching, our race ends at kilometer four out of ten.

It can be all too tempting to let ourselves off the hook when it comes to completing what we truly care about, because doing so requires hard and sustained effort. And it can be equally as tempting to hold onto things longer than we wish to because we mistakenly believe we haven’t completed them (according to someone else’s standards).

We have to learn to practice perseverance and flexibility, to combine discipline with intuition, and to be intentional, above all. Intentional with what we continue, and intentional about what we complete.

The end of the calendar year is approaching. It’s an apt moment to check in with ourselves about what we’re committed to, and how we feel about those systems, goals, and responsibilities.

What actions do we need to take in order to reach a resolution? What values do we choose to continue to uphold? What relationships, belongings, or behaviors are we ready to bring to a close?

When we act on purpose, no matter the choice, we make the end point a triumph.

When we complete, we create space for the new.