What does it mean to be done for the day?
It’s a question I’ve been asking since I read a recent newsletter installment from Four Thousand Weeks author Oliver Burkeman, where he asked, well, “What would it mean to be done for the day?”
Do you have an answer?
Absent a 5:00 whistle and universal agreement that work is, officially, ended for the day—and with nearly always more to do when the laptop is closed and or the phone is checked for the last time, when is the work day finished?
We need an answer. Because feeling finished, and having our mind agree we’re finished, allows our nervous system to rest, to recover, to engage with life beyond work.
As Burkeman puts it: “When you end the day feeling like there’s vastly more you ought to have done, you're telling your nervous system it can't take a break; and you're reinforcing an idea of your work as an oppressive and insatiable force.”
Everyone has high expectations for what they can accomplish in a day. And quite a lot is accomplished some of those days. But even then, how often does it feel like enough?
Here’s what this might look like in practice:
Instead of “I need to clear all my messages,” try “I will respond to all urgent clinical questions and flag three non-urgent items for first thing in the morning.”
Rather than “I should respond to everyone,” perhaps “Before I finish for the day, I’ll review my inbox one more time and address the time-sensitive items.”
Or shifting from “I need to perfect this presentation” to “I will complete the key slides and trust myself to finalize it during tomorrow's scheduled work block.”
Or perhaps, as noted in this video, it’s about giving minimum standards a try. A minimum standard is not what's the most you can do, but what's the least you need to do to feel like you made solid progress. Instead of “I must spend three hours on the strategic plan,” try “I’ll spend 30 focused minutes mapping out the next steps.” That half-hour block is often enough to make meaningful progress on almost anything. And while we’d all like to think we can meet that three-hour standard, 30 minutes is much more likely …
Because the world we work in is a world where work is never finished.
So it’s up to us to actively develop a definition of done for each work day—and as Burkeman suggests, to base this on what would allow us to feel complete and not some impossible standard. It’s about taking control of our definition of enough, because the world isn't going to signal when to stop, and embracing the fact that everything will never be complete.
If this resonates:
- Try identifying the two or three key tasks that must be completed for the work day to feel finished
- Or try out a principle today, like “I'll leave the office when I've completed my three most important tasks, even if my inbox isn't empty”
- Or give something you're working on a minimum standard for the day
Whatever “done” is for you is likely to require some reflection and adjustment to hone in on what works.
And when you do meet that stated expectation, actively tell yourself “thank you, I’m finished.” It sounds simple, but shifting from the endless “more, more, more” to “I did what I needed to do today” is exactly the point.
What is your definition of done today?
