Put a Bow on It

I was busy. My boss wanted to know what I had finished.

One of my mentors called these last couple of months of the year a sacred time. He wanted my goals 100% complete before Christmas break. I asked him how the hell I was supposed to do that.

He explained that we needed to define what complete meant now and work it out with the people involved. Get the work to a useful stopping point. My performance review was coming, and he needed me to show him what I'd actually got done.

He told me he was a crappy writer and lazy. He didn't want to have to lie for me, or spend his time trying to explain why I should still be there. I needed to give him something he could write about honestly. I didn't particularly want him having to defend my existence either.

But when I tried to list what I'd 100% completed that year, I was dumbfounded. I had been busy. There was plenty I could explain. Much of it was still half finished, though, and I was keeping it going by hand. I knew what was happening because I was the one checking on it. Take me out of the picture for a while and somebody was going to have questions. Probably me, when I came back.

Busyness is a drug. You can get so used to having something that needs your attention that you stop asking what all this attention is producing. You're tired at the end of the day. Of course you must have accomplished something. Then somebody asks you to write it down.

That was the uncomfortable part for me. I could describe the work I was still doing much more easily than I could describe what I'd finished. And all that unfinished work still needed looking after. It was tiring. I was going to carry it into the next year unless I did something about it.

It's possible to be working flat out and still be unprepared when somebody starts asking questions about your contribution. A full calendar can keep you from asking those questions yourself.

Good effort doesn't guarantee that you will keep your job. People doing excellent work get laid off too. But “I've been really busy” gives you very little to say about what the organization got from all that effort.

My boss was trying to make sure I understood this before the review, while there was still time to do something useful. He called it putting a bow on it.

Sometimes there was hardly anything left. A little polish. A decision I needed to get made. Something that needed to be delivered so somebody could actually use it. Other things needed a conversation. What would count as finished this year? Could we agree to that? What would still be waiting when we came back?

If the next part belonged to somebody else, I needed to get it ready for them and make sure they'd accepted it. Put a bow on it and chuck it over the fence. They should probably know it's coming.

Work that had to continue needed the lowest possible pilot light through the break, along with enough written down that we could come back and begin again. Some things could just end. We'd done what we were going to do with them.

For well over twenty years now, I've had a note on my calendar: “Put a bow on it.” I also call it getting it in the bag.

Every year I write down what actually got completed. Then I look at the things still hanging around and work out what needs to happen to them. Some need finishing. Some need an agreed pause or a proper handoff. I want to know what I'm still responsible for and what I can finally stop carrying.

Practices take a slightly different conversation. I can look at what I've learned or how my training has gone and notice what would make it easier to continue. The practice can keep going while this year's goal comes to an end.

Doing this each year gives the next year a clearer beginning. I have something completed to build on, and I know where to pick up the work, I've deliberately set aside. It also gives me a reason to ask what finished will look like before I spend another year on something.

So, pick one thing you've been carrying around. Write down what's actually done. Work out a useful endpoint with whoever else depends on it and take the next step toward getting it there.

My boss wanted to write an honest review and go home. I wanted to keep getting paid and enjoy my family and pastimes. We could help each other do that. He was letting me in on something I still need reminding of. You can stay busy for a very long time without ever getting to put anything down.

Put a bow on it.