The small mistake that’s wreaking havoc on your business and your life
Capturing incompletions is a game-changer. Here’s how to do it, and why.
Here is a very common mistake amongst business leaders (and people in general): They don’t capture incompletions.
Capturing incompletions is incredibly low-hanging fruit with the potential to completely transform your life and business. If you can adopt this, I promise you lots of great things will happen.
So what the hell is an incompletion?
It’s a very simple concept. An incompletion is what happens whenever people talk about the possibility of doing something. This could be a piece of work in your business, the suggestion of going for a drink, or the possibility of going on a vacation together. An incompletion is generated when some potential activity is discussed, but nobody lands on the next steps to ensure it happens. You don’t get a crisp agreement on what to do to take this idea to the promised land of actualization.
That is an incompletion.
Picture this: You run into someone on the street that you haven’t seen in a while. The person says, “Hey, we should grab a coffee and catch up.” Now, assuming you actually want to do this, most people would say, “That would be great. Let’s do it!” And then nothing happens from there. Neither of you are pulling out your phones and saying, “Fantastic. What’s your schedule like next week?” You’re both leaving and then nobody does anything about it. There’s no clear owner. There’s no clear next step. You’ve opened a new browser tab and just left it open while you’ve moved on to other things. You may then go several years without seeing that person again.
The impact of this seemingly innocuous habit can’t be overstated. A little incompletion here or there isn’t a big deal, but the problem is that for most people, they’re happening all the time. Most of us leave dozens of incompletions hanging in the ether every single day. How many times is a project or task discussed in a meeting and then never followed through on? Countless. If your company has a culture of playing fast and loose with incompletions, it’s almost certainly not a very effective organization. If we zoom out on humanity, consider the trillions or more incompletions generated every day. Trillions! This is so sad. It’s an absolute tragedy.
So what should we do with our incompletions?
It’s pretty straightforward. Assuming that you want to follow through on something, you should capture it as quickly as possible. Think of incompletions like Pokemon out in the wild. They have value if you can capture them. Capturing valuable incompletions means you are moving your life and business in the direction you want—let that motivate you!
What if you don’t want to do something? No problem. If you don’t want to follow through, you can let that incompletion sail off into the sunset, hopefully, to never rear its ugly head again. You can also speak up and say that you don’t want to do that thing. Your choice.
It’s important to note that if you’re the owner of an incompletion, and you don’t actually want to do it, then you are the one responsible for taking it off the table. Keeping your word is a big part of living with integrity. If we’re being honest, most of us have some real work to do here. You can start by being more honest with yourself about what you have the capacity for and what you don’t. Be clear with yourself: do I actually want to do this, or not? Give strength to your “yes” by honoring your “no.” Say you’re not going to do it, and in the future, don’t commit to things you don’t actually plan to do.
How to capture an incompletion
Incompletions are elusive. They’re out in the wild, they often don’t want to be captured, and the best tactic for capturing them may or may not be clear.
The process of capturing incompletions comes down to a very simple question: Who does what by when? That’s it. That is the million (or billion) dollar question. This is simple, and also profound.
Who does what by when? Let’s break this question down.
Who: Who is the owner? You, me, Greg, Sally etc. You need one owner for each item. Multiple owners does not work because no one person can be held accountable. There are some exceptions, but generally speaking, one person owns any given task.
What: What are they agreeing to do? What are they precisely doing? What’s the task? What’s the commitment? Make a dinner reservation, research trip options, or send you a calendar invite. The key is being specific.
When: When are they going to do it? Right now, end of day tomorrow, by October 28, end of year?
All three pieces are necessary to properly capture an incompletion.
But let me warn you: it can be surprisingly uncomfortable to ask who is doing what by when! If you miss one of the three components, people get slippery, and next thing you know, the incompletion stays in incompletion land forever, ie “I thought Greg was going to do that,” “Oh, I didn’t realize you were waiting on that,” “I was unclear about what exactly you wanted.” Human beings are slippery, and trust me, they will find a way to slip out of a commitment if those three pieces aren’t clear as day in everyone’s mind.
In a business setting, the gold standard is for someone to write down the commitment and track it for accountability purposes. (Doing this with friends or your spouse is likely overkill, but I encourage writing down personal commitments for your own tracking.) In business, there should be someone making sure that commitments are followed through on. They should be waiting at the deadline moment with praise, feedback, emotions, consequences, rewards, etc. to be distributed as appropriate.
Becoming the type of person who looks for and captures incompletions dramatically increases the value you bring to your organization, your relationships, and everything else in your life. If you and your buddies are talking about a bike trip, be the one to capture the next steps and offer to follow through. Be the partner who researches couples therapy options and sets up the intro calls. Be the person who gets the next gathering on the calendar at the end of the night. Be the colleague who will get the important thing done by the next time you meet.
Many times in my life, people have thanked me for following through on things. I recently took a client to the US Open, something we discussed over a year ago. It was very meaningful for our relationship that I followed through on something we discussed previously. I’m that guy who makes trips happen. I’m the type of person who actually shows up if I say I’ll be there. And it’s sad to say, but this is increasingly rare in our digital age. This is an untapped area that can set you apart. This is really valuable stuff.
Here’s when you know you’ve really begun to master capturing incompletions: When you start to keep your word even to yourself. When nobody else even knows or is involved, you follow up on whatever you told yourself you were going to do—adopt a healthy habit or kick a bad one, try something new, or do something that nourishes you. You stop saying to yourself a million times, “I should really try that new hot yoga studio” and you just book the damn class.
Time and again, my founder/CEO clients say that capturing incompletions is a total game-changer for them. You are no longer “all talk.” You are walking the walk. You are now a person of substance. You are increasing your integrity with your word. When you speak, people know you mean business. Cleaning this up will change your life and your company. It might just be the unlock you’ve been waiting for.