In this era of rapid development, the standards we set for ourselves are getting higher and higher. We all strive to be competent in our jobs, to stay healthy and fit. For that, we set multiple goals urging ourselves to accomplish them all at once.

However, have you ever experienced anything similar to the following situations? You want to get fit, so you pay for a gym membership. But then, because of working overtime, you don’t even make it there once. It makes you feel like a failure, so you decide to try again next year. Or your New Year’s resolution is to achieve higher performance at your workplace. But when one of your projects does not go according to the plan, you choose to give up on your goal. You believe that you are simply not smart enough, so no matter how hard you work, it won’t make a difference. You feel extremely disappointed with yourself, but in reality this phenomenon is common. According to one study, 92% of New Year’s resolutions fail. That means that only 8% of people follow through with making their New Year’s resolutions come true.

So, why do we really fail to finish our goals? Could it be that we did a poor job planning? Or that we did not push ourselves hard enough? According to Finish, we abandon our goals halfway through the process precisely because we strive for perfection. After elaborating on the results of systematic research on goal-related subjects, this book concludes that finishing the goal is more important than doing it perfectly. So, we can reach our goals only when we sidestep the traps of perfectionism.