On Finishing Well

There it is, mocking me, another reminder of another unfinished project or goal. Finally, it gets put away in a closet or my mind. “I’ll deal with it later”, while wondering when or if later will ever come. I need help on finishing well.

It doesn’t matter what ‘it’ is, what matters is it isn’t finished. Some things take our whole lives to finish. But most everything else has a beginning, middle and a finish we can achieve. As we wind down our month of execution on our #MemoryMakeover, let’s do what often we may not: finish well.

We all have those moments of eager motivation at the beginning of a year, season or even in this #MemoryMakeover challenge. But over time, the new wears thin and the work becomes difficult, monotonous, or less fun. So we pause and convince ourselves we’ll get to it later. But often later never comes.

The challenge is to finish well. It doesn’t matter if it’s a goal, project, or even something simple like preparing a healthy meal. Don’t limp across the finish line. Dig deep and push through. It probably IS challenging, boring, or not as exciting as the beginning or original motivation. But most things worthwhile in life take effort–often much effort.

On Finishing Well

If we can dig deep to keep our motivation and execution moving toward our goals, the satisfaction and confidence we’ll gain is priceless. It could even spur us onto bigger, better, or even loftier goals.

Here are some tips I’m using to keep up my motivation, move forward and finish well. See if they could benefit you…

1. Assess current status of original goals. Similar to a race, we may not be keeping pace with where we hoped to be at this point. Maybe we sprinted ahead then got fatigued or didn’t anticipate the difficulty. Either way, assess the current status, make that the new starting point to finish well.
2. Realistically adjust. Once we know current status and what’s left to do, we can realistically adjust with additional knowledge. What’s needed to finish well? Assistance, diligence, or more time or energy? Adjust what’s needed to keep moving forward.
3. Set mini goals. I do this often, even minute by minute, especially with difficult or unwanted tasks. Use the clock to finish x by a certain time, work until a designated portion is done, or until another mini goal is met. Achieve the small goals to achieve the big goal.
4. Keep putting one foot in front of the other. It’s like that lyric from the children’s Christmas movie song-Just put one foot in front of the other… It’s so simple, yet the hardest thing to keep stepping forward toward our goals. But when we do, we learn, grow, and discover new things about ourselves and others, including knowing we finished well.

It’s time. Let’s not neglect our goals, projects or tasks when they begin to feel worn or difficult. Instead let’s use these tips on finishing well to execute on our goal and enhance our lives and memory.

Your #MemoryMakeover homework this week is simple: Let’s go! Take the steps needed today to not only finish, but finish well.