"Finish What You Start"

October 18, 2011

Today’s Bit of Advice….

“Finish What You Start”

Every night, as I’m lying in bed waiting to fall asleep, I take stock of my day – the good, the bad, the goals I have for my life, the things I wish I’d gotten done, and the half-finished projects I’ve abandoned.  I have a life pattern of working on many things at one time.  They all get finished eventually but I walk away from the projects too often to take care of more urgent work, to make dinner, or just to go to sleep as the night gets late.

Fortunately for me, I (almost always) finish those projects at some point.  I prioritize them by importance or due date and give myself a little shove to get it done.  Most of the time, it doesn’t take nearly the amount of effort or hours that I expect it will take.

I know some people who have half-finished projects that never come to completion.  Maybe they have too many great ideas and a lack of time or drive to get them done.  Maybe they only have the starting ideas but don’t know how to bring the rest of the project together.  Maybe they just forgot to finish.  Whatever the reason, use this advice as an impetus to look around and find out what you’ve let sit on the back burner for too long.  You know what happens to pots that boil dry?  They start to smoke and warp!

You are probably wondering how I came to choose this bit of advice today.  A friend from Facebook (who also has a blog) posted the following opening statement to her blog post today: “I have not written in a while – a LONG while.  Not because I didn’t want to, just didn’t have much to say”.  And that statement was so true for me in my life too.  I love writing this blog and I try to faithfully write at least once a week.  The fact that my last published blog post was on September 13^th (a month and five days ago) indicates a little problem to my faithful writing.  And, I included the words “published blog post” which should tell you something else.  I’ve written a few entries but didn’t actually finish them and didn’t post them.  I did want to write and publish the posts – I think I was too busy teaching and mothering to have anything left to say here.

What was that advice of mine?  Finish what you start? LOL

Thanks to my dear FB friend, I put fifteen minutes aside and got this blog post written and ready to post.  I have the beginnings of three more that I will aim to finish up in the next few days.  It really won’t take much to just buckle down and get those half-finished projects completed.  The hardest part is getting started and the rest just happens.

Try it.  I think you’ll be pleased with the result.

Hope you enjoyed the read.