Meditations for Mortals - week two, day nine

Meditations for Mortals (by Oliver Burkeman): A 4 week/28 day series with dailyish posts about the book
Week two - taking action

DAY NINE
Finish things
On the magic of completion

On day nine, Burkeman starts the chapter with:

There is a mysterious energy in finishing things…You’d assume that seeing a project through to the end might leave you feeling depleted, yet the truth is that completion replenishes energy, rather than using it up.

I just submitted an article for a publication yesterday, and yes — at least in this case — there was real satisfaction in adding it to the done list.

But when I finish a performance I often feel the opposite of replenished. There is the feeling of satisfaction but there is also a very real feeling of a depleted mind and body. One of my favorite accounts on Instagram, cellist Nick Canellakis, captures the complicated “post-concert mood” perfectly in his post “Day after a concert you worked really hard for” here.

Burkeman’s point about perfectionists loving to start projects but resisting completion definitely resonates with me. Dreaming up a new idea is the best part — full of unlimited potential energy and possibility! The outcomes are endless!

But finishing one? It’s done. Kaput. No more imagining, dreaming, brainstorming. It’s closed.

So yes — fighting the perfectionist tendency to avoid finishing is important. One way to manage the overwhelm that can come from doubt or too many unfinished projects is to focus on something small, manageable, digestible — what Burkeman calls “deliverable.” And then just do it.

He writes:

As you get into the swing of this, completion ceases to be a matter of occasional, stress-filled crescendos of effort, and your days instead involve a low-key process of moving small, clearly defined packages of work across the desk and out the door. Each ending provides an energy-boost for the next…It works so well, I suspect, because it means acting in harmony with reality: for finite humans, every moment is an endpoint of sorts, experienced once then done with forever.

I hear him. And yet, for musicians, the rhythm of performance and post-performance is a tough one for perfectionists. I often thought I’d have made a better visual artist — you put something in a frame and you’re done with it. As a musician, the post-performance let-down is real, even after a smashing success.

I wouldn’t trade being a musician for anything, though. Performing is like nothing else I do, and I’m deeply grateful to share music with others. But it’s a cycle that’s not always easy to manage.

Viewing a performance as a finished project — and allowing yourself to move toward what’s next — can feel freeing. This reframing helps put it all in perspective, because moving on to the next performance isn’t just part of the cycle — it’s what we do as musicians. It’s the rhythm of our work: one project finished, another just beginning.

Burkeman ends this chapter with a reflection from the Tao Te Ching. It feels especially fitting for musicians post-performance — the idea of letting the experience be finished and in line with how things really are.

Work is done, then forgotten. And when you accept this, you’re no longer fighting the current, but letting it carry you forward. It’s less effort that way.

Thoughts:
When do you feel replenished by completion, and when do you feel depleted?
What’s a small “done” action you can take on one unfinished idea today?