A Guide to Finishing What You Start (And Why Your Brain Tabs Deserve Closure)

Remember that Big Bang Theory episode where Sheldon’s life implodes because Amy won’t let him finish toppling a line of dominoes?

Sheldon loses his mind because he physically cannot handle not finishing something, like his favorite TV show getting cancelled on a cliffhanger. His obsession with closure becomes the entire plot of the episode.

Sure, Sheldon is eccentric, but I’m with him on this one. In my previous article, I talked about the beauty of beginnings. But sometimes I catch myself going through life opening too many new projects the way I open a bag of snacks: with great enthusiasm and absolutely no plan for where the crumbs will end up.

I hate it with a passion.

In general, I hate leaving things undone. If you can operate in a room with clothes strewn across the floor, 47 open browser tabs, 7,235 unread emails, and 87 unanswered WhatsApp messages, and it works for you, I don’t judge you. 

In fact, I admire you because I couldn’t do that. It would cost me my sanity.

Think of it differently. Do you, when spring-cleaning your apartment, start something in every single room at once without finishing any of them? Or cook a little bit of every course at the same time, instead of focusing on the main dish before starting dessert? (Yes, I know. You probably do because it saves time. That’s why I’m a very basic cook.)

Or, to stay with the theme of this blog, would you ever travel like that? Would you hop off a plane in Prague, set your sights on the iconic Charles Bridge, start walking … only to turn back just before you reach it because you got distracted?  Or buy a ticket to the stunning Klementinum Library, then stand outside admiring it from afar? Or catch a glimpse of the Dancing House from across the river without ever getting close?

That’d be madness. You would waste time and money, and above all, you couldn’t say you’ve truly experienced Prague. You’ve only skimmed the surface, and half-actions never make for great stories.

So why do we do it in everyday life and work?

Why We Collect ‘Open Tabs’ in Life

Think of your mind like a browser with 89 tabs open. Some you needed, some you barely glanced at, some you don’t even remember opening. But there they sit, humming in the background, quietly draining your mental battery.

This isn’t just a modern-day distraction. It’s a feature of your brain’s wiring. Enter the Zeigarnik Effect: a psychological quirk discovered by Bluma Zeigarnik back in the 1920s. She noticed that waiters could remember unpaid orders far better than ones that were already settled. Once an order was paid for, poof — the memory faded.

Your brain does the same thing with unfinished projects. That half-written blog post? The business idea scribbled on a napkin? The online course you abandoned at Module 3? They linger in your mind like unpaid bills, quietly demanding mental rent.

No wonder your head feels like Chrome at 3 am: fans whirring, CPU maxed out, random pop-ups begging for your attention. We collect ‘open tabs’ in life because our brains, much like Sheldon, hate unresolved loops. But those open loops linger.

And they come at a cost: focus, energy, and a lack of the satisfying click of a task well done.

The Real Cost of Not Finishing

So what’s the big deal if you leave a few things undone? Well, think of every half-written email you never hit ‘Send’ on. That book chapter you swore you’d finish next month. The birthday message you wrote in Notes but never sent (and now it’s so late it’s a crime to send it at all).

Every unfinished thing quietly rents space in your head. And trust me, the rent is extortionate.

This is where cognitive load comes in. Your brain’s bandwidth isn’t infinite. Every unresolved task siphons off a tiny bit of your mental capacity. One or two, fine. But dozens? Hundreds? Suddenly, you’re trying to focus on today’s to-do list while your mind is running a 24/7 unpaid bill collection agency.

It’s like lugging around a backpack stuffed with random, half-eaten snacks. No wonder you feel heavy and distracted. Finishing what you start means finally decluttering that backpack and giving your poor brain some breathing room again.

How Travel Taught Me About Closure

Travel, at its core, is really just a sequence of finished tasks. If you don’t complete them, you’re not travelling - as simple as that. You’re stuck in your living room scrolling Skyscanner, or standing at an airport gate begging a flight assistant to let you through because you arrived too late. Or, worse, you’re somewhere on the side of a highway, car broken down, wondering why you never got that oil change.

To travel, you need to think ahead: plan your trip and organize your finances, because spending money you don’t have is never a good idea. Then you have to sort your transport, secure a place to sleep (because while Rome is lovely, being homeless there is not), and ideally do all this before the prices triple. And let’s not forget the ultimate pre-travel checklist item: time off. Your manager is unlikely to appreciate a postcard from Mexico that says, “BTW, won’t be in for the next three weeks.”

So before you even get on the plane, you’ve already closed half a dozen loops.

And then there’s commitment. I’ve learned more about commitment and persistence sitting alone at an airport gate than I ever did anywhere else. Imagine your flight is three hours delayed. Everyone’s cranky. But you stay, because you’re determined to get to Athens no matter what. You don’t suddenly wander to a different gate and board a flight to Dubrovnik just because you’re bored of waiting.

Well, unless you’re one of those movie characters who saunters up to the counter asking, “Surprise me, what’s your next available flight to anywhere?” and swipes their credit card without blinking. For the rest of us, it’s the usual flow: ticket booked, bags packed, plane boarded, destination reached.

Why Finishing Makes You Feel Better (And Frees You Up for Better Things)

Here’s the thing about tying up loose ends: it makes your brain happier. There’s a sweet psychological payoff: the famous completion dopamine hit. Every time you tick something off, your brain releases feel-good chemicals that say, “Well done, you rockstar. Next!”

Psychologists say we’re wired to crave resolution. It’s why we replay unfinished conversations in our heads until we get the imaginary last word. It’s why we stalk exes online, hoping for some satisfying ‘aha.’ Your brain just needs closure. And your projects, big or small, deserve the same courtesy.

Done is lighter than perfect.

Finish that draft, send the email, close the tab, and watch how much mental space you suddenly have for new adventures, better ideas, or that long-overdue nap.

When You Can’t (and Shouldn’t) Finish Everything

Of course, sometimes life just won’t let you tie things up with a perfect bow,  and that’s not always a bad thing.

In the same episode of The Big Bang Theory, Amy, a trained neuroscientist, decides Sheldon needs exposure therapy. She stops singing the anthem before the last verse. She lets him blow out all his birthday candles but one. She leaves a line of dominoes forever untoppled. Pure torture for him, but the lesson is gold: some things are meant to stay unfinished.

Not every open loop needs your constant worry. Not every project deserves to be dragged across the finish line if it’s lost its spark (or was never yours to carry in the first place). Some endings are out of your hands, and that’s exactly how life stays deliciously unpredictable.

The real takeaway here is: Finish what matters. Let the rest drift away. Closure is freedom, but so is learning when to stop chasing it.

(But: This is not to be applied in every corner of your personal and professional life. The bulk of this article was dedicated to actually closing things, and so should your life be. Don’t give up on everything, just on the things that don’t matter.)

Tiny Tips for Actually Finishing Stuff

So, how do you become a closer without becoming Sheldon-level unhinged? Here’s what helps me:

✅ Decide what’s worth finishing and what’s worth letting go. Not every open tab deserves your time. Some tabs are dead weight.

🎒 Treat your open loops like luggage. Do you really want to lug that half-baked idea around for another year? If not, make it work or toss it.

🌍 Change your environment. Sometimes the best way to close mental tabs is to open your laptop somewhere new: a different café, a new city, a train with terrible Wi-Fi. New place, new energy. (Personally, some of the places motivating me to finish my to-do lists and screaming ‘productivity’ are Zurich, Madrid, or Hong Kong).

🎉 Celebrate small completions. Finish that one lingering slide deck? Tick the box. Send that overdue text? Pat yourself on the back. Publish the draft? Pour the champagne. Whatever works.

The World Deserves Your Finished Work

Half-finished ideas don’t make good souvenirs. Success stories of completion do. Just like you wouldn’t come back from Vienna bragging about Schönbrunn you almost saw, your life’s work deserves more than half-hearted postcards from abandoned projects.

The trick is to be just enough Sheldon to topple that last domino,  but not so much that you miss out on the sweet stuff waiting after.

I’d love to know: What’s one thing you’ll finish this month, so you can stop carrying it in your head? Share below!

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