Episode 193: Closing The Loop
Hello. Welcome back to Live Free Creative podcast. I’m your host Miranda Anderson. Today, we’re talking about closing the loop. This is episode number 190. I have been using this phrase over and over for the last several months. And I think my husband is so tired of it. So I thought I would just share an episode all about it in case the idea, the visual, of closing the loop becomes helpful for you to annoy your partner with.
The idea behind closing the loop is that last 10% of finishing tasks and how we can actually make that happen. I want to share in this episode some reasons why that’s important, why closing the loop is beneficial overall, and some tips for how you can focus on closing those loops in your life, some actual strategies for closing up those loops and being able to resume your to-do list or your task list with a little bit more focus and overall perspective.
Before I jump in to talking about closing the loop, I wanna share a little bit about life lately.
Main Topic: Closing The Loop
Let me share some ideas about closing the loop. I think that this phrase was introduced to me when I was reading the book Burnout by the Naski sisters. They talk a lot about stress loops and in the book Burnout, it explains some strategies for closing our stress loops. It explains that, when we are stressed out by one thing or another, we enter this tunnel and we are processing through that emotion.
And if we don’t emerge from the tunnel, if we don’t close those stress loops, then it can cause real damage to our bodies. Our bodies hold onto it. Our mind isn’t able to fully relax. You know that emotion. And so they give a bunch of strategies on actually closing the loop of our different stress cycles.
So I think because I had that idea of loop closing in my stress cycles in my mind that I started to pay attention to the ways that loops were remaining open in my task list.
The last 10% of a task is one of the hardest parts to accomplish. In fact, there’s an old Chinese saying that says when you’ve made it 90% down the path, you’re halfway to your destination. I think that is hilarious because it’s so true that frustration you feel about being almost done, but not quite. And that last bit being the most difficult is just a fact of reality.
Loops That Stay Open In My Household
I wanna give you a couple examples in just normal everyday life of where loops tend to stay open. At least in my household.
- Laundry
The first one is, I think, fairly ubiquitous putting the laundry away seems like the most difficult part of the whole process. Is that true for you in your home as well? The washing and drying and even folding and landing in a basket in the correct room seems to be not that big of a deal. But being able to just get the folded clothes from their basket, or from the pile on the bed, into the proper drawers is as much effort as the whole rest of the system put together.
Is that true for you? I don’t know why that is. Why can we get through the washing and the drying and the folding, and yet the putting away feels so difficult. That’s an example of an open loop that can just really be annoying and aggravating this idea that we can get almost there, but not quite finish.
- Dishes
Another example is the hand washing part of the dishes. I know I’m just right now talking about some actual household chores, but I think that’s where a lot of loops tend to stay open. We can rinse off and load all the dishes in the dishwasher, but then there’s the ones left behind that need to be hand washed.
In our house, we don’t dishwash some of our pans–that always pan and anything that’s non-stick surface. We have some wooden utensils that don’t get dishwasher because that ruins the wood. Anytime we have company over and we use a big platter or cheeseboard, something like that. Those things tend to just sit in the sink.
So all the dishes will get done, but that last 10%, just those things that need to be hand washed and dried and put away, they stay there. And that loop remains open.
- DIY Projects
Another example that I’m super guilty of is with a DIY project. I will get almost finished. I get it so close to done that it feels like I’m done. But I’m not actually done. Sometimes I finish an entire project except for the final step of glazing it or doing a varnish or sanding off that last little bit.
For example, right now my dining table is fully stripped down.
It became ruined in our giant flood of 2018 that destroyed about 80% of our house. Our dining table was a victim of that and we didn’t realize it until after the insurance had all been taken care of.
It’s a 1950s Danish dining table that the varnish started to peel away as a result of just that long term water damage.
And so finally, after two years, I stripped it all down and sanded it off completely. And there it sits underneath a tablecloth. We have this waterproof tablecloth that I love and the table is just ready for staining, but I haven’t done that piece yet. It’s just an open loop.
- Getting Back To People
This can happen a lot in our work and social lives. You tell someone you’re gonna get back to. And then you haven’t quite gotten back to them. So it just stays open in your brain, or you have an email, you need to send something to someone. So you respond and say, I’ll get that right over to you. And then you need to find it. And you haven’t closed it up.
Why Do We Leave Loops Open?
I want you to think for a second in your life right now, whether it’s your household, whether it’s in your work life or in your social life. I want you to think about some of those loops that are open. Some of those things that are almost finished. They’re just not quite there. They’re not quite done.
Why do we do this? Why do we leave these loops open? I think part of it is like that Chinese proverb says that the first 90% gets us about halfway. And that last bit, like in that last 10%, all of the inertia, the motivation, the enthusiasm of beginning a new project has waned away and we’re left with just the wrap up.
And sometimes the wrap up doesn’t feel as exciting.
I remember when I was writing my book a few years ago, I was maybe 80, 90% done with the manuscript. And I started to tell my friend and writing partner, Camille, that I had started having all of these ideas for new books. I wasn’t quite finished with my manuscript, but my brain was so enticed, distracted by new ideas and by the shiny thing that I could chase.
I was indulging in starting on the next thing before I had completely finished the thing that was already in process, and she laughed and said the best time to have ideas for new books is when you haven’t finished the book that you’re writing. And she’s an author of five brilliant children’s books. So she knows this better than most people, that distraction, that idea of not quite finishing because you’re leaving early to chase the next thing is just a natural phenomenon that happens.
The problem with that is when we leave open loops, our brain keeps thinking about them. So it adds stress and annoyance and pressure and frustration that all of these things are left undone. And we often not only leave things undone, but we also then go and begin a bunch of new things that we then leave undone. It’’s like opening jars and just leaving all of the jars open and never actually like closing them back up again.
How Can We Close Loops?
So this episode is about closing the loop and some ideas of how you can actually make that happen in your life. I’m curious if this is like a unique problem to me, if you’re thinking I don’t really do that, I finish all of the tasks that I begin, or if you can relate.
I’m gonna share seven tips for how you can practice closing the loop in your life, some strategies for closing those up so that you can not only feel better but actually get things finished so that they’re not only started, but they’re actually finished and done.
When we close these loops, our brain is actually able to rest, able to take on new projects with a different level of creativity and enthusiasm and attention because it’s not lagging dragging along all of the things that haven’t been finished. So there’s a lot of benefit to closing the loops.
Tip: Set A Short Timer
The first tip I’m gonna share is a simple one: set a timer to encourage you to finish the task that you’ve begun.
So this one is an easy one with especially household things or work projects. Just set yourself a five minute timer and see if you can race against the clock to get all of those clothes put away or the dishes hand wash and dried and put back on the shelves. Set yourself a 10 minute timer to send the emails that you need to send before the end of the work day.
Setting a timer will help you because all of a sudden we think that it’s a game and we like playing games, our brains like that it becomes a challenge. And then instead of just being the annoying thing that you have to finish, it adds this level of enthusiasm to it that you’re gonna race against the clock to get it all done. Not only that, but work tends to expand to fill the time allotted to it.
So if you tell yourself I’m gonna give myself an hour to put all of the clothes away, it will probably take about an hour. If you say, I’m gonna give myself five minutes to put all these clothes away, you’ll probably get it done in about five minutes. So set yourself a timer to close the specific loop that you want to finish. And that becomes really helpful.
Tip: Define The Finish Line
Another one, the number two is also important. Number two is to define the finish line.
I think, especially with my kids, oftentimes I’ll ask them to do something and they get the gist of it. They get most of it done, but I haven’t defined for them what “done” looks like. So again, if we’re talking about a household task, which these things are important because they’re part of our daily lives, that if I’ll tell my kids to pick up their rooms. And it gets all the way done, except for the part where they are supposed to put the garbage all the way into the garbage can or that their shoes get actually back onto the shelves or the books get stacked and lined back up there.
It’s mostly done. But if I haven’t clarified what the finish line is, what that looks like, then it’s really hard for anyone to cross it, including myself when I’m finishing a DIY project.
For example, I’ve been painting trim in my house recently. I need to tell myself that the project is done when the trim is painted and the paint brushes are cleaned and put away. And the tape has all been taken down and put into the garbage can. And the garbage has been taken all the way out to the street. At that point, I’ve defined for myself what that finish line looks like. So that I don’t feel like it’s not quite done simply because I haven’t decided what done looks like. That’s number two.
Tip: Keep It Small
Number three is to start or stay small. If you’re doing a big, long term project or a task that takes many steps, I want you to define each of the small steps and close the loop on each one.
So for example, I’ll just stick with the house example that we are designing and decorating and settling into this house that we’ve only lived in for about six months now.
I could think of the whole house as like one big project, but that is gonna be an open loop for a very long time. It takes me a couple years to really settle in and figure out what I want to do, and then actually do it when it comes to designing and decorating my home.
So I’m gonna break down this big nebulous idea into a series of very small ideas, and maybe I’ll break it down room by room and then from room by room, I’ll break it down into what needs to happen with the furniture, what needs to happen with the rug or with the painting or with the artwork. And then each one of those things gets broken down further and further so that I can close the loop on something small within the big project.
And that makes it easier for my brain to feel relieved that even though the big project is in process, I’m closing the loop on each of the small projects as they happen.
Another thing that’s really helpful to do is to not begin the next project until the current one has been finished. And by finished, I mean the loop has been closed.
So define what that is. And instead of starting to paint one room and then starting to paint another and then buying curtains for another and then getting a rug for another, and then planting the garden in the front corner and then, pulling a tree out of the back.
Choose one area, one task, one section, one project, and close the loop on it before you begin the next one.
That way, instead of opening a bunch of loops all at once, which can just cause incredible decision fatigue and distraction, you can close one up and then begin the next one.
Tip: Schedule Time To Close Loops
So number four is to schedule loop closing days. This is something that I think is especially helpful in a work environment. I work with a couple clients in my creative mentorship program who work for corporations.
They’re full-time employees for corporations. And one of the things that we’ve worked on when we’re talking about efficiency and general fulfillment at work is to create a schedule that systematizes the closing of those loops.
So there’s some tasks that just have these kind of open-ended annoying little dangling ends, and rather than spending a lot of time and attention chasing each of those dangling ends throughout the week, I’ll say, make sure that Friday afternoons, you schedule a time to just wrap all of those up and you maybe say I’m gonna spend two hours doing 20 different loop closures so that I can go into the weekend having everything wrapped up for the week.
It’s not necessarily feel worth your time to close a loop. Sometimes the tail end of a project is really just logistical.
It’s like getting a signature or responding back to someone or filling out a worksheet or a time sheet, something like that is truly not very exciting. But if you batch it so that all of those not very exciting things all happen at once. At least you can snap through ’em and wrap ’em all up.
So schedule a loop closing day. This might look like something at home where you say, on Wednesday afternoons or Mondays or Sundays or whatever it is, choose a time and say, I’m gonna go, I’m gonna set a timer. Employ a couple of my tips all at once. I’m gonna set a timer. I’m gonna write a list and I’m going to close the loops on the different household projects that have been opened this week.
That might mean putting away laundry, finishing up the dishes, shaking out that rug, washing that thing off, washing the toothpaste out of the sink that you keep looking at and thinking, oh, I need to get that done. All of those sort of open tasks that have been annoying or frustrating during the week, schedule a time to close them.
And even though this may seem a little silly because some of those household things feel like they’re always open. I think this is when it’s really important to define clothes and then systematize them. Because if you have, for example, a system where you complete the dishes once per day, like at the end of the day, the dishwasher is completely loaded and started so that you can unload it in the morning and begin with an empty dishwasher–that’s what we tend to do at our house.
In that case, don’t only make sure that it’s loaded, make sure that you close the loop by also hand washing and drying and putting away those things and wiping down the counters and just like actually closing the loop to completion so that you can begin the next day.
A new, same thing with the laundry, finish your one day of laundry with a completed cycle before you feel like it’s never ending. When you close those loops on things that are cont that feel continuous, you give yourself a break from them in the interim. So if you do laundry on Mondays and Fridays, close the loop on Monday so that you can enjoy Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, without having to think about it with that tab in your brain just totally turned off.
So whether it’s for work or for home, or for personal or social or motherhood or parenthood tasks, scheduling a loop closing time to close it all down can be really helpful.
Tip: Ask For Help
Number five is to ask for help. I was working on building some garden beds a couple weeks ago, and I just kept coming up short on motivation.
I went and got all of the wood and I started on the project and I was feeling pretty good about it. And then I got interrupted. I needed to go pick the kids up from school. And then I came home and was just tired. And I did have energy remaining in my tank to actually do it. But I wasn’t motivated anymore.
And so when Dave got home from work, I just said, Hey hun, will you sit outside with me and chat with me to just give me the motivation to finish these? I didn’t even need his physical help in building the beds. I could do that myself. I just needed his. emotional support is energetic. Motivation to sit with me.
So asking for help in some of these loop closures can be really helpful, especially if those last little bits are just annoying. They’re just like that. Oh, that last little bit. That is not very fun or not very exciting. Invite a friend to come, sit and hang with you while you finish it up or ask your kids to help and motivate yourself with something fun.
After we put away all the laundry, we’re gonna go. Make ice cream sandwiches just motivate yourself with some help and some fun.
Tip: Batch Your Tasks
The next one in number six is to batch your tasks. And I think I talked about this with the scheduling the loop closing days, but if you batch your tasks completely, then you don’t necessarily have a lot of open loops to begin with, then you can set up your to-do list so that you schedule the start, the middle, and the end of your project. At the same time where you don’t have to be interrupted or distracted from the thing that you’re doing, then you close the loop as a natural part of the process of working on it rather than opening it and not closing it. I think if there’s just a level of awareness to this too, if you define what closed loops look like in your own life, you can start to close them em automatically and not leave things partially undone. Instead, allow yourself to finish it up so that you don’t have that dangling stressful last 10%.
Tip: Shutdown Ritual
The final piece is something I adapted from Cal Newport that he calls the shutdown ritual. And he talks about this in Deep Work, which is one of my favorite efficiency and accomplishment books. What he’s talking about is at the end of your work day–he’s talking about work, but this could be your motherhood day, your work day, your school day, the end of your day in general–you should have a ritual where you’re able to capture whatever’s happening in your mind, whatever those open loops are that have been nagging at you and you write ’em all down. So you can kind of brain dump, write them all down, get them out of your head.
Research has shown that writing these things down at the end of the day also helps you sleep better because then you’re not like circling on things that are undone while you’re sleeping. So write them down and then you can take it a step further by actually looking ahead at your schedule for the upcoming week or months and start to plug some of those things in.
So not only are you aware of them, but you’re also telling your brain that we are going to get to this. And here’s the specific time when it’s gonna happen. And you are setting yourself up for success by when those loops or projects are happening in the future, the loop closures and future projects, and then finally to plan for the next day.
So you might wanna schedule a little bit ahead and also look at the day that’s coming up. And if there’s things that have to be left undone today, do you want to prioritize them for the following day?
And I also wanna just mention, there are lots of things that we think we’re supposed to do or that we should do that we don’t actually need to do. There’s a lot of things that we could tell ourselves are really important that actually aren’t. So there’s some level of aligning our choices and the way we’re spending our time and our energy and our resources with our values and making sure that we’re prioritizing things that actually matter in our lives and our family lives.
And just for the benefit of our brains, being able to lay to rest at night, closing those loops can be really helpful.
Recap
So just to review:
- set a timer, give yourself a race against the clock to finish up some of those low hanging fruit tasks.
- start small
- schedule your loop closing days
- ask for help and for motivation
- define what the finish line looks like
- batch your tasks and
- create a shutdown ritual so that even if some things remain open, that you write ’em down and you know that they’re gonna happen so you don’t have to think about them.
In my experience, thinking about closing the loop takes way more energy than actually closing it. Thinking about getting it done and the time that it’s gonna take and having to remember it recall back to it, that is so much more effort than simply taking the five minutes to get it done to move ourselves ahead and to close those loops up.
Let’s close these loops, let’s define what that looks like. It’s so much easier if we just finish the tasks we start rather than just starting a bunch of new ones. And I hope that in bringing your attention to this, or just talking about it, that you become aware of how it might be easier and feel better for you to close some of the loops in your own life.
Conclusion
Thank you for being here and listening to Live Free Creative Podcast. I hope this episode has given you something to think about and something to work on. Just a little bit of progress in your life to feel a little bit better. I want to encourage you to subscribe, to leave a written review and a rating, and to share these episodes with someone that will appreciate the information in them to live their life a little bit more on purpose.
I’ll catch you next time. Have a great one. Bye bye.
