I was reading John Maxwell’s book, Good Leaders Ask Great Questions when the obvious arrested my attention. It was a single sentence. Yet, it was so powerful and pregnant with present and future implications. What was the sentence? Maxwell simply made this assertion, “the bookends of success are starting and finishing. That was it, start and finish. Now, I am not going to argue what is success. I believe success is subjective. I believe that what I would consider success might not resonate with you. However, what I am going to argue or rather assert is that in whatever field of endeavor or human pursuit, that there is no success without first starting and then finishing what you started.
If you want to be successful, you must first start and then you must finish what you have started. So simple and yet, seemingly so difficult. The reality is there is no success without first starting. We must start. We can have a head and heart full of projects and plans but nothing happens until we decide to start. We have to start the project, start the program and start the degree. We must be willing to invest our time, energy and effort in beginning. The problem with too many of us is we never begin. We never start. Perhaps the project is too overwhelming or too daunting a task and as a result, we paralyze our selves with analysis and over-analysis. As a result, we make plans but we never implement. We talk about our next great endeavor but we procrastinate to the point where we soon lose interest. If we are going to accomplish with our lives what we are capable of accomplishing, we must start.
I have learned this lesson and learned to jumpstart myself. Often whether it is a regular project, such as writing a sermon or preparing for a Bible Study class or writing a blog post, I have had to jumpstart myself. One of the ways, I do this is by having a set schedule, a set time to write or begin my studies. I have learned that my brain functions better creatively in the morning, specifically between the hours of nine and roughly 11:30. Therefore, it is critical that I am in my spot and working during those hours. I have also learned to trick my brain. Oftentimes, the motivation is not there. For whatever reason, I just don’t have the motivation or the energy for the task at hand. I have learned this technique, which has worked for me on a consistent basis.
I will tell “myself” that I will write for about 30 seconds or I will study for about 30 seconds. Inevitably what happens is I will get started and before I realize it I have invested an hour or more on the task at hand. Don’t quote me on the science behind this but I believe it has to do with the fact that the brain does not like loose ends. I believe it has to do with the fact that the way the brain is wired is that once it is given an objective, the focus becomes completing that objective. I have used that technique to motivate myself to complete projects big and small. In fact, I am using it now. I didn’t have the necessary motivation to even start this blog post. I was honestly distracted by other thoughts but I sat down and as of the stroke of these words and nearly halfway toward the completion of this post. Try it! Maybe 30 seconds seems too long but it feels right to me. And if it sounds familiar, Mel Robbins just wrote a book entitled the 5 Second Rule, where she advocates a similar process. In her example, she encourages persons to count down from 5 and then when you hit one, you just jump into the project. Same principle, different practice. I have used both and they work.
If getting started is one bookend toward success, clearly finishing has to be the other. I don’t know of anyone who would disagree. In fact, as I stated it is so obvious and because it is so obvious, I believe we overlook it because of its simplicity. I wonder how many dreams, goals and aspirations have been short-circuited simply because started but we didn’t finish. We made the plan, started working toward its completion but for whatever reason, we left it undone. We never finished. I know too many instances where people, good people, well-intentioned people who didn’t finish what they started. Regrettably, I am reminded of those moments where I didn’t finish what I started. I started well. I started with the requisite energy and enthusiasm but somewhere along the way, I lost focus. Somewhere along the way, I allowed the difficulty of the enterprise to dissuade and discourage me. There were even times when I allowed the opinions of others to deter me. But if we are going to meet with success in our particular pursuits, we must be among that percentage of people in this world, who finish what they have started.
“If we want to experience success, we must courageously start and consistently finish.”
So how do we ensure that we finish what we have started? It really is simple, we keep working on “it”, whatever “it“ is until we finish “it.” Literally, it is that simple. We set a goal and a deadline for its achievement and we keep working on it until we have completed the work required. One way of doing this is to keep the goal, dream or aspiration at the forefront of all that you do. For instance, if you want to write a book, I would turn that into a measurable goal. I would attach a deadline to it and then formulate a daily plan to reach that goal by the date you have established. Let me see if I can make that plainer. I have a book I am writing now. The book will be approximately 150 pages, I plan to have the book completed by February 1, roughly 90 days from now, which means I need to write roughly a page and a half a day to make that a reality. Therefore, I sit down every day and I write a page and a half. Every day without fail until I finish that book. Here is the secret, most people don’t plan to fail, they just fail to plan. We must plan the work and then work the work. Believe me, this is not an earth-shattering revelation but I guarantee that it works. And if we want to experience success, we must courageously start and consistently finish.
Paul D. Flowers, Sr. 