What can possibly be a stronger reason for explaining why we have not achieved our goals than to acknowledge that we simply failed to finish what we started?

We humans have remarkable capacity for justification and many of us have repeatedly rationalized to ourselves why we should not continue on a path to a goal, or how, if we simply set it aside for a few days, we will return to it with increased zest, or why it is quite all right to deviate (cheat) slightly from the plan now because we will definitely make it up later.

I am not suggesting that it is never okay, or appropriate, or the right thing to do to give up on our goals but I am absolutely convinced the primary reason why we do give up and therefore, go back to the very thing we are trying to move away from is because we have not strengthened our resolve to make The Habit of Finishing What You Start a non-removable part of our DNA.

Some may call it quitting, or failing, or not being willing to “suck it up,” or being weak, or laziness, or lack of ambition, or lack of focus or anything else you choose to call it.

The truth is simpler than that. Each and every time we embark on a new goal, only to find ourselves not reaching it, it is almost certainly because we started out with all good intention and then stopped.

 

After I introduced The Habit of Finishing What You Start in last week’s blog I received a scathing email from a reader telling me I have no idea what I’m talking about, accusing me of being insensitive and critical, and having no understanding of how difficult some goals are and made even more so by the everyday stresses of life.

I am always amused by those who have psychic and mind-reading abilities and can tell others what they know and don’t know and what they do and don’t understand.

These same folks often have remarkable attribution skills and are also able to tell others their motives for their behaviors as in, “you did that just to annoy me.”

Never for a second have I ever suggested that some goals are not extremely difficult to attain, nor have I ever implied that the pathway to those goals will not be filled with challenge, pain and struggle.

 

But what I do know is that the impetus for setting goals in the first place is principally because some portion of part of our lives is not providing us with what we want and achieving our goal will correct the imbalance.

In other words, there is something we wish to have added to or removed from our lives and while the challenge and pain and struggle of making that happen may appear quite overwhelming at times, it pales into insignificance when compared to years and years of repeated failed attempts.

For some the sense of repeated failures can become crushing to the point where they come to believe their goals can never be achieved and they quit trying.

An unpretentious habit, The Habit of Finishing What You Start is a mindset that disavows the option of quitting. It is an undeniable belief that screams “I only stop when it’s done.”

Adopt The Habit of Finishing What You Start, become The Habit of Finishing What You Start, benefit immensely from The Habit of Finishing What You Start.

If you start, finish: Life is simple.

Let’s make a habit of meeting like this.

P.S.

Finally, after months in the works, my company’s new website is up. Please take a moment and visit www.strategicpathways.net . Browse through this site and then click on the “Contact Us” tab or tellmemore@strategicpathways.net  and let me know what you think.

Your opinion truly means a lot to me.

Thank you.