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I'm looking for a word that means something doesn't matter if not finished. Basically, unless you can finish this thing, it is not even worth starting.

Example: John thought about baking a cake, but figured that it was _______ because he didn't have the time to finish.

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    'All-or-nothing'?
    – Řídící
    Aug 23, 2016 at 19:36
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    Unconsequential? Irrelevant?
    – luchonacho
    Aug 23, 2016 at 19:41
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    Your example doesn't align very well with your question. Nothing about it indicates that John wouldn't finish the repainting, just that it would take a while, and in the interim, the house would look bad. You might want to consider providing a different example.
    – Richard Kayser
    Aug 23, 2016 at 19:56
  • @RichardKayser Better?
    – amflare
    Aug 23, 2016 at 20:19
  • I second irrelevant. Perhaps also unimportant, academic, and [a] moot [point]. Think it's inconsequential rather than unconsequential though.
    – JeopardyTempest
    Aug 23, 2016 at 20:38

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This isn't a literal translation of the concept (actually, 'moot' is kind of a hard word to explain), but I'd use:

John thought about baking a cake, but figured that it was moot because he didn't have the time to finish.

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Fruitless — M-W

adjective Producing no good results : not successful

"They made a fruitless attempt to find a solution."
"It would be fruitless to continue."

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