Last year I read Better Than Before by Gretchen Rubin and I still think of it often.  Erica and I even discussed it in a Girl Next Door Book Club! 

In the book, Rubin outlines four habit tendencies – Upholder, Questioner, Rebel, Obliger – which describe how a person responds to internal and external expectations. (You can take the quiz here to find out your tendency.) I’m an upholder and respond equally to internal and external expectations. In other words, I love goals and enjoy meeting them. Surprise!! I had so many lightbulb moments while reading about my own personality and having it articulated in new ways. Plus, what is more fascinating than learning about yourself?

After describing the four tendencies Rubin covers lots of other traits we should consider when trying to make or break a habit. Are you an early bird or a night owl? Are you a moderator (a little at a time) or an abstainer (all or nothing)? Are you an opener or a finisher?

Lately I’ve been thinking about this last one: opener or finisher. When Erica and I chatted about the book on The Girl Next Door Book Club I thought I was an opener. I have so many things going on! So I must love to start things. 

But one morning as I was grabbing my lunch and coffee, about to head out the door, a little collection on the counter caught my eye. It was a squeezed and nearly empty bottle of Aquaphor, a Burt’s Bees so near the end that the internal tube of chapstick will pop out and an upturned bottle of Trader Joe’s white pine lotion (an attempt to use every last bit). Later at work I found that I had another bottle of upturned Trader Joe’s lotion.

Then I thought of the way I have a hard time buying new deodorant until I have nearly none left (still obsessed with this by the way). And also how I’m still wearing casual shoes that I love even though they have a hole in the toe and running shoes I’ve been wearing for nearly 4 years (it’s a miracle I don’t have chronic shin splints). I love to wear things until they wear out and since these are still functioning it’s hard for me to buy new.

It’s not just material things. At work I find so much more energy and satisfaction in finishing a project than starting a new one.  

And so it dawned on me that maybe, in fact, I am a finisher. I love to follow-through and complete something that I said I would do. I am an upholder, after all. Being a finisher definitely supports my somewhat frugal sensibilities and definitely my minimalist sensibilities. I do not have interest in trying lots of different shampoos, eye shadows, shoes or accessories for example. Maybe my finisher nature is why! I used to follow a blogger who shared a favorite beauty product round up each month. I realized that it actually really stressed me out to think of having 7 – 10 NEW products every month. There’s no way I would ever use all of that! Or want to store it all.

But my finisher nature doesn’t apply to all things. I abandon books if I don’t at least enjoy them somewhat.  I also don’t mind getting rid of things if I’m not using them at all as opposed to feeling that I must “use it up.”  I’ve never been a pack rat but especially after reading The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up I don’t like to hold on to something because maybe I’ll use it. Or maybe it’s that I can’t stand not making progress on finishing something so I’d rather just get rid of it.

I was chatting with Chris about this and he also thinks he’s a finisher. In fact he said, “Yeah, didn’t you notice how I put some water in the body wash to make it last longer?” He wants to use every last drop of that body wash. I actually did draw the line at overly-diluted body wash and cracked open the new bottle. 

I’ve been trying to think of how this insight about being a finisher should apply to my life. Part of the power of getting insight into my own personality is recognizing the person I am and not fighting against it. Maybe it will even bolster my commitment to having less and buying fewer things. By having fewer things I can enjoy finishing them or using them up. For the most part I can’t think of habits or practices that I need to change but it’s interesting to see some of my habits in light of finisher tendencies. 

What about you – do you think you’re an opener or a finisher, and how does that affect you?