The Power of Unfinished Work

The other day I stared at a half-finished draft on my desk. A few strong lines, a few scattered notes, then blank space. My instinct was to push it forward, to wrestle it into something complete so I could check it off the list. Instead, I left it there.

It bothered me at first. Unfinished things always do. They sit in the corner of my mind like loose threads, pulling at me, whispering that I am behind. But as I looked at that draft, I felt something shift. Maybe unfinished was not a sign of failure. Maybe it was a sign of process, of movement, of growth still unfolding.

We live in a culture obsessed with completion. We admire the polished, the packaged, the perfectly tied-up endings. Yet some of the most important work in our lives never really finishes. It lingers in drafts, in conversations, in the slow evolution of who we are becoming.

Unfinished does not mean broken. Sometimes it means alive.

The Pressure to Finish

From an early age, we are taught to measure worth by what is done. Grades mark completion. Checklists validate progress. Promotions depend on deliverables. Everywhere we look, the message is clear: finish, then celebrate.

I have carried that script into nearly everything I do. My writing. My leadership. Even my personal life. I have…