The Paradox of Completing Things

​By Marilyn Erickson, APRN

Is the outcome of completing things magic? Or is it depleting?
There is a tale told in Anthony de Mello’s book One Minute Wisdom that is as follows: 


​Change
The visiting historian was disposed to be argumentative.
“Do not our efforts change the course of history?” he demanded.
“Oh yes, they do,” said the Master. 
“And have not our labors changed the earth?”
“They certainly have,” said the Master. 
Then why do you teach that human effort is of little consequence?”
Said the Master, “Because when the wind subsides, the leaves still fall.”

I actually never thought that completing things was magic. Projects, tasks, homework, books, writing, artwork - all of these things that we can so easily leave unfinished. Or put off the completion of them until a later time, when it is more convenient, when everything is aligned! Well, I can tell you, at least in my case, it is really never convenient and everything is never aligned.

In Meditations for Mortals, Oliver Burkeman makes the case for completing things. But he emphasizes that it can’t be drudgery or torture. His idea is another way of looking at the story above referring to the Master’s teaching that “effort is of little consequence”. If you are a perfectionist, you enjoy starting things but it is a chore to complete them because you start to notice all the flaws in a plan or you come across a difficult part that may have more than one solution or you can’t see the solution right away. Then the completion becomes overwhelming, hard, or what you perceive as impossible. But Burkeman offers a different route to completion. He suggests that you “redefine what counts as finished.” So you can divide the entire project into what he calls “deliverables”, sequential small steps that can be accomplished in a shorter period of time. Think of the next 3 minutes as suggested by Steve Chandler. Or set aside 1-2 hours to devote to that “deliverable”. 

It is the “devotion” of an allotted period of time that I think is the decreased effort or effortlessness required for ultimate completion of a project or task. Because in the devotion you give your complete attention to the step you are working on and it becomes rewarding, relaxing, or even amazing. It becomes a “low key process” as described by Burkeman. 

And when that step is completed, you think of the next “deliverable”. Burkeman states, “Treating what you do with your time as a sequence of tiny completions means falling into line with how things really are.” So we don’t have to be overwhelmed or stuck with what seem like large, cumbersome tasks. We can find magic in the very small steps that lead us closer to completion. 

In the Tao Te Ching, there is this statement: “Work is done, then forgotten. Therefore, it lasts forever.” Burkeman suggests that then, “you are no longer fighting the current, but letting it carry you forward”. 

I believe this is the change Anthony de Mello refers to in his story of the argumentative historian. Completion of even small tasks brings about change in our lives. If we make it less effort and more joyful (in the small steps), we find that we don’t need the big wind, that the leaves will still fall when the wind subsides. The wind represents our effort and making life happen with less effort is the goal.

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