Harness that finishing feeling

As we race towards the end of 2023, I want to share some thoughts on that finishing feeling. Germans have a word for it!

‘One minute left’ are the most motivating words I hear all week.

Earlier this year I started circuit training. For those of you unfamiliar with this specific form of exercise/self-inflicted torture, it’s endurance training at high-intensity organised in a circuit. Over 45 agonising minutes we perform five minute sets of exercises at different ‘stations’.

Typically, I’ll launch into a new set full of vigour - this is such a breeze. By minute one I am flagging, by minute two I’m physically spent, by minute three I’m having an existential crisis questioning all my life choices, why I thought this was a good idea, believing that I can’t sustain this level of activity, everything hurts and I want to give up and never move my body again except to slip into a warm bath laced with Epsom salts.

Then, the trainer shouts ‘one minute left’ and I am born anew. It’s most uplifting phrase I’ve ever heard, giving me a motivational push like no other. My mind expands, I can do this, I keep going, I finish - triumphant.

On to the next set and the novelty lights me up new exercise, this is a breeze then I swiftly descend into the same trough of despair only to be uplifted by my one-minute warning.

The Germans have a word for that

And the word is ‘endspurt’ which means the last run to the finishing line. It’s experienced not just with physical exertion but all areas of life.

As writers we harness the endspurt from setting new year resolutions, aiming for competition deadlines, making submissions to writing groups, even the trusty pomodoro technique allows us to adopt a low stakes finishing line.

That finishing feeling

Psychology backs it up. Back in the 1930s a behavioural psychologist called Clark Hull observed a phenomenon called the goal-gradient hypothesis. Though his research followed rats running progressively faster along a straight alley as they neared the end, this effect has also been found in humans, including personal trainers and writers.

In short, the closer we get to completing, the more motivated we are to continue working and achieve our goals.

It’s all about perception

Professor Oleg Urminskya at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, said:? “it’s not the actual distance to the goal that matters in human behavior, but our perception of that distance.”

He’s right, my body is no more capable towards the end of a set of circuits - quite the opposite - it’s that my mind perceives it to be harder in the middle and easier as the end approaches. Urminskya goes on to say this is form of present-bias, so our cognition recognises, “rewards that we’re closer to achieving”.

How to harness that end of year feeling

I am not telling you to push yourself harder, but take a moment to consider your goals and figure out your endspurt, a personal run towards the end. Here’s some ideas:

• If you have fuel in your tank and love a challenge, then go back to your goal and work out what is left to do. Can you achieve it? Make a plan for the next three weeks and go for it.
• If you’re off target don’t worry, you’ve got this. Set yourself a new goal or a milestone that’s quicker, easier and achievable with all the things going on in your life. Focus on being realistic, you’re after a hit of dopamine when you achieve it, which will make you more likely to continue next year.
• If you are no longer in the race, then go small, do a pomodoro and write for 25 minutes, set a tiny step to reconnect with your writing, freewrite. I promise just a few minutes will help get you back on track.

Most writers don’t have tattooed, vest-wearing personal trainers on the sidelines encouraging them to finish but we can use the end of the year to get closer to our goals and experience that finishing feeling.

A version of this article first appeared in Breakthroughs & Blocks.