The Secret to Writing Better Endings: Combining Two Powerful Methods

Have you ever stared at your screen, cursor blinking mockingly, as you struggle to nail the ending of your piece? Whether it's a short story, a blog post, or even an important email, that final paragraph can feel like trying to stick the landing of a gymnastics routine—except you're not sure if you're aiming for the mat or the ceiling.

Here's the good news: you're not alone, and there's a surprisingly effective solution. By combining Jerry Seinfeld's famous "Don't Break the Chain" productivity system with the Two-Draft Method, you can dramatically reduce the pressure around endings while actually improving their quality.

Let me show you how these two approaches work together like peanut butter and jelly (or, if you prefer, observational comedy and bass guitar riffs).

Understanding the Individual Methods

Before we dive into the combination, let's break down each method separately.

Jerry Seinfeld's "Don't Break the Chain"

The story goes that when a young comedian asked Seinfeld for advice on getting better, he revealed his simple system: write jokes every single day. He marks a big red X on a calendar for each day he writes, creating a visual chain. The only rule? Don't break the chain.

The brilliance here isn't about writing masterpieces daily—it's about showing up. The system removes the pressure of quality and replaces it with the gentle accountability of consistency. One X follows another, and before you know it, you've got momentum.

The Two-Draft Method

This approach separates writing into two distinct phases with different mindsets:

- Draft One: Get it down. Write freely without judgment. Your only job is to get words on the page, even if they're messy, incomplete, or terrible.
- Draft Two: Get it right. Return later with fresh eyes to refine, restructure, and polish what you've created.

The magic happens because you're never trying to create and critique simultaneously—two brain functions that notoriously interfere with each other.

Why Endings Are So Hard

Let's acknowledge the elephant in the room: endings carry disproportionate weight. They're the last thing your reader experiences, which means they shape the entire memory of your piece. No pressure, right?

This creates what I call "ending anxiety"—that creeping perfectionism that makes you second-guess every closing sentence. You revise before you've even finished. You delete and rewrite. You might even abandon promising pieces because you can't figure out how to wrap them up.

The problem isn't your skill. It's that you're trying to solve too many problems at once while also maintaining the creative flow that got you there in the first place.

The Combined Approach: A Game-Changer for Endings

Here's where things get interesting. When you combine these two methods, you create a system that specifically addresses the ending problem.

Step 1: Set Up Your Chain (But Make It Specific)

Instead of Seinfeld's generic "write every day," make your chain about completing first drafts. Your rule is simple: write to the end of something every day, no matter how rough that ending is.

Key word: complete. Not perfect. Not beautiful. Just finished.

This might mean:
- Finishing a 200-word blog post idea
- Completing a short story, even with a placeholder ending
- Writing through to the conclusion of an essay
- Drafting the final paragraph of your novel chapter

Mark that X on your calendar when you've written all the way through, ending included.

Step 2: Embrace the Terrible First-Draft Ending

Give yourself explicit permission to write bad endings in Draft One. In fact, try to write the most cliché, obvious, or rushed ending you can think of. Write "And then they all lived happily ever after, THE END" if you want.

The point is to remove the blockage. Your first draft ending is just a placeholder—a bookmark that says "the ending goes here." Some days it might be a simple summary: "Somehow wrap this up by connecting back to the opening image."

This is liberating because you're not actually writing THE ending. You're just writing AN ending. The pressure valve releases, and you can complete the piece.

Step 3: Build Your Chain of Completions

As you stack up those daily completions, something remarkable happens. You're training your brain that:

1. Endings don't have to be perfect on the first pass
2. Finishing is a skill you can practice
3. You're capable of completing things regularly

After a week, you'll have seven finished first drafts with seven rough endings. That's seven more completed pieces than most people produce when they're stuck in perfectionism paralysis.

Step 4: The Second Draft Is Where the Magic Happens

Here's the beautiful part: when you return to these pieces later for Draft Two, endings become infinitely easier to solve.

Why? Because now you can read your piece from beginning to end and ask: "Given everything that came before, what does this piece actually need to say at the end?" You're no longer inventing the ending in a vacuum while simultaneously trying to maintain creative flow.

With distance and perspective, you'll often find that the ending reveals itself. Maybe it was hiding in your introduction. Maybe it emerged in an offhand comment in paragraph four. Or maybe your terrible placeholder ending actually points you toward what the real ending should be.

Practical Tips for Implementation

Start small: Commit to just seven days. One week of completing something daily—anything—with an ending attached.

Use a physical calendar: There's something visceral about drawing that X with a red marker. Digital works too, but analog has a special power.

Define "done" in advance: Before you start writing, decide what counts as finished for that piece. "Ending written, even if it's rough" should always be part of the definition.

Schedule Draft Two sessions: Set aside time weekly to revisit pieces from earlier in the week. Even 30 minutes can be enough to transform three or four rough endings.

Celebrate the chain: Every week you don't break is worth acknowledging. You're building a new relationship with completion.

The Bigger Picture

This combined method does something subtle but profound: it separates the pressure to finish from the pressure to finish well. By making completion the goal of Draft One and quality the goal of Draft Two, you're working with your brain instead of against it.

Over time, you'll likely notice that even your first-draft endings improve. That's because you're practicing the specific skill of moving toward closure, over and over again. But you're doing it in an environment where the stakes are deliberately kept low.

The chain reminds you to show up. The two-draft method gives you permission to show up imperfectly. Together, they create a sustainable system for producing work that actually reaches its conclusion—and does so in a way that feels satisfying and resonant.

So grab a calendar, lower your standards for Draft One, and start building your chain. Your endings—and your productivity—will thank you.