Is Being a Completionist Fun?

I am a completionist. I derive a lot of pleasure from checking all the boxes. Cherry-picking podcast episodes isn’t for me. I go back to episode one and listen to the entire back catalog in order. You have 500 episodes and 25 of them are about the pandemic? Sign me up. You wrote a book I like? Your entire backlist might end up on my TBR. I’ve never flipped through a cookbook without feeling compelled to make a Julie and Julia project out of it (my hatred of tomatoes is the only thing standing in my way). Even as a kid, I was desperate to own every single item in American Girl’s Molly McIntire collection. I loved Molly, but the idea of finishing the collection took my enjoyment of her clothes and accessories to a whole new level.

My favorite podcast, The Popcast with Knox and Jamie, currently has 668 episodes available. I’ve listened to every one, plus additional back catalog that used to be available before they figured out what they were doing. They are my pop culture guides. But when they suggest skipping an entire season of a television show, something in my soul crumbles a little.

Being a completionist has allowed me to uncover many hidden gems. An early Popcast episode on misheard lyrics revealed that some people hear “oh my God, a penguin and a llama” at the beginning of The Lion King’s “Circle of Life.” I’ll never sing it any other way. My favorite author is Madeleine L’Engle, and if I’d stuck with A Wrinkle in Time, I might never have discovered her lesser-known Austin family or Walking on Water, let alone her poetry. The first season of Parks and Recreation is not great, but I think it’s vital to see the beginning of Leslie and Ann’s friendship.

The best part of being a completionist is seeing all those boxes checked, that 100%, that sense of accomplishment. This is one area where being an Enneagram One can get me into trouble. I really, really like getting that 100%, especially when I can do it in a low-stakes way like listening to every episode of a podcast. That means sometimes I feel more compelled to put in my earbuds and get that checkmark than play with my kids, which is impossible to “complete.” This also means that I gravitate toward checklist-type goals rather than tackling projects with more nebulous outcomes. It’s easy to know whether I read 60 books in a year. It’s harder to know whether I helped my kids thrive, poured into my marriage, or even “completed” a room renovation.

Now that I know this about myself, there are some ways I can harness my tendency toward completion. When I have open-ended aims, I look for “completable” tools that move me in the direction I want to go. When I found myself home with my toddlers during the pandemic, Playing Preschool by Susie Allison (aka Busy Toddler) was a great fit for my aim of keeping my toddler busy, entertained, and educated. There are so many boxes to check! (And it’s fun too!) When the girls were ready to learn to read, Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons was just what I needed. By the end, I’d gotten to check 100 boxes, and my kids could read!

However, this tendency means I also need to be careful what I commit to. My brain lights up whenever I encounter a quest to complete. Visit all 50 states! Stay at every resort at Disney World! Ride every ride at Disney World! Eat at every restaurant at Disney World! (Ok, I’m especially drawn to Disney quests.) But this can mean I end up investing time, money, and energy into things that actually aren’t that fun for me. I might get a hit of dopamine when I check the box, but it might not be enough to counteract the costs.

So lately, I’ve been trying to be a little more purposeful about what I commit to. And I’m telling myself that it can actually be fun to skip over some of the boxes. As a rule-follower, I can appreciate the adrenaline that comes with breaking a rule—but I do best when it’s a rule I made up myself.

What this has looked like lately is unsubscribing from podcasts I’m just not that interested in anymore. We’re currently content with our family size and school choices. Those homeschooling and nursing podcasts will be there if I need them in the future. I’m skipping over episodes that aren’t relevant to me. I’m putting cookbooks that I’m never going to cook through in the Goodwill box. And I’m not worrying as much about tracking down every short story Goodreads tells me my favorite authors have added to beloved series.

Still, in my pursuit of fun, I want to remember that being a completionist is fun for me. So while my TBR list continues to grow with memoirs, debut novels, and productivity books, I’m also keeping track of series I want to finish. I’m currently reading the 24^th No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency book and thoroughly enjoying it. Trying to get through a language in a year on Duolingo was too intense. Instead, I’m keeping my streak alive (489 days and counting!). I’ve nearly read 1,000 books to my toddler, and he’s nowhere close to kindergarten. And I’m still going to listen to everything The Popcast sends my way.

Are you a completionist? Do you watch every movie in the MCU? Read every book by a particular author? Try to reach the end of Instagram (I need to cut that out, too)? Or do you just pick whatever seems fun and let the rest go? Could being a completionist help you reach some of your goals, or are there areas where it’s getting in your way? Let me know in the comments!

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