Closing the Loop

5/21/23

Finishing what you start is age-old advice worth taking. It can increase your confidence, reduce anxiety and stress, and build trust with those you care about and work with. 

Closing the loop is what you do when you check things off your to-do list. This only happens after your work reaches its next destination—be it delivering your part of a project to a colleague on or before its due date or submitting quarterly reports with enough time to have them reviewed before a board meeting. It’s also the lesson you likely learned as a child, and one you may be teaching your kids today: your homework doesn’t count as complete until it’s submitted to the teacher.

It sounds simple, but closing the loop, going full circle, or finishing what you start may not be as straightforward as it seems. You may know how much time is needed for a specific project, but chances are you are simultaneously working on other tasks and have other commitments, and therefore, you need to allocate more time than you think is necessary.  

Time management skills are essential and can help you stay focused. Writing down deadlines and planning backward to figure out what you need to do and when can help ease anxiety and stress. This can be as simple as a parent creating a schedule of upcoming activities or an employee allocating time at work to prepare for meetings and complete projects.

Procrastinating is not helpful. Nor is believing that your best work is done during crunch time. Managing your time will ensure you have enough time to finish what you started, while planning ahead can reduce the stress and anxiety that builds from the last-minute rush to get your work done. It can also reduce the possibility of you negatively impacting others or them being frustrated by your delays. 

You may not think of closing the loop as an act of self-care, but in reality, it is. Responsibly and successfully delivering on that which you agreed to sets you up to feel more confident and trusting of yourself. It feels good to follow through with commitments and know that others trust you do to so too.  

When you commit to something, make sure you do it, do it well, and do it in the required time frame. This not only benefits you, but the person to whom you are passing your work off to. Managing your time well will allow you to meet your goal and pass along work that you’re proud of.

So, next time you’re given homework, a project, or a task at work, build confidence in yourself, increase trust with others, and reduce stress and anxiety by planning ahead and closing the loop.