Yes, finishing feels good. When we complete tasks, we feel better than when we have a pile of incompletes just lying around. Incompletion creeps up on us, overloads us, and crushes us. The more we fail to complete our work or realize our goals, the more susceptible we are to hopelessness, doubt, and fear. Completion would seem to be a pretty clear winner. So why don’t we complete?

Because we have competition for our attention. Email, Facebook, conversations with colleagues, and the other 25 tasks we’re working on simultaneously constantly compete for our focus.

(Just now, as I looked up, my Facebook browser tab says there are two replies there. I started to move my cursor up to check on them and said, “Hey, you’re writing a blog post! Get that cursor back down there.”)

Neuroscience has found that when we finish tasks, we get a dopamine rush. We actually do feel better. However, interruptions trick the brain. They can be like instant gratification that gives us little dopamine rushes. We find ourselves incurring more and more distractions that, like any indulgence, feel good at the time and leave us feeling empty later on.

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