You have to finish what you start. No matter what.
Of course you should quit the ugly or unimportant things and habits that are holding you back and you should quit them now, but this is not our concern.
You need to finish what you started.
Sadly for many of us this just doesn’t happen.
We are very good at starting things. Quick at getting excited, but when the motivation flees and disappears, what remains are half read books, incomplete plans, half diets, abandoned training programs, and way too many broken dreams.
It’s not easy.
Finishing is never easy.
Most things worth sweating over take a very long time to get done.
Dreams require renewable commitment. They require steady and persistent motivation.
Finishing things needs to become a habit. A habit and a daily chore.
One of the ways we procrastinate is simply to invent something else for us to do.
Something better. Something urgent. Something more fulfilling.
Spring comes and you’ll begin to clean your garage but before you can finish you’ll go outside and start on the garden, and before that gets finished the patio furniture will be out and you’ll have invited all your friends for a spontaneous bbq. But what happened to the garage? What happened to the garden?
This bait and switch is very tricky business.
Take my life for example.
I have been writing these little thoughts of mine since January of 2017.
Something happened early that year and I was inspired once again to become a writer. A professional writer to boot. But the only way to be a professional writer is to commit yourself to a lifetime of writing and get down to business every single day. It’s not the number of books you sell that matters. Ok, money gives you a lot more time to write, but it doesn’t make you a writer. What separates the amateur from the professional is the amount of work they choose to do daily and if they actually have the will to do it.
This last Christmas I pondered how long I could keep these writings going and I decided that before they stop suddenly, I really needed an end date. Since I will be teaching for another four years, I thought the natural thing to do was to keep them going for that long.
I thought deeply about it. I made my decision. I made a sincere commitment.
Recently however, I’ve been getting second thoughts. I’m being pulled and inspired to write fantasy novels. I have a great semblance of a plot and some really imaginative characters. One of them is a half dwarf named OX who finds and adopts this little deaf mute baby boy which he names Mek. I really want to take the time to tell you more, but that is exactly my point.
I need to finish what I started.
I need to keep the promise I made to myself.
I need to honour my commitment to this particular work.
I will keep writing for better or worse, no matter what, because I fear the danger of the whole damn thing imploding on me.I’m afraid that if I don’t see this through, if I don’t honour the next four years, than it will all be for nothing.
I will end up with a bunch of half finished nothing and in turn be able to do absolutely nothing with it.
I fear that once I get accustomed to living like a bee and floating from one flower to the next, it will be impossible to stop. I have to be the worker bee and the Queen.
But enough about me.
I sincerely hope you finish what you start.
Don’t ever abandon your work or foreclose on your dreams.
Resurrect them from the dead if necessary.
Renew your motivation.
Grow in tenacity.
Finish what you start.
