My list of projects is ever growing, especially during this time of year. It’s easy to start a tax return, but find I get interrupted then go back and attack it again. Sometimes this goes on over several weeks. I do it again and again until the last piece is completed. When I prepared my first tax return this year I found it difficult to push the final button to print the return. I had to have a conversation with myself – is there anything else I can do to improve the results? Is it perfect? If there is nothing left, then just do it. All my efforts to prepare the return do not count until I file the return.
I find it easy to start, the true challenge is to finish.
I belong to Toastmasters. It is a worldwide nonprofit group designed to improve your speaking and leadership skills. The first goal is to prepare and deliver 10 speeches. Each speech focuses on a key component of a process, accumulating to the last one. After the first 10 you have the basics covered and can move to the advanced speech series. I have been in the group for 10 years, only 5 out of 60 have actually finished the first 10 speeches. They start strong, but fail to complete.
To create true results it is critical that you finish. A half-finished job is worthless. If you want to make an impact on this world find the fortitude to finish! Have a great March!
“It does not matter how we start, it matters little the colossal mistakes we commit along the way. The only thing we will be judged by is how we finish”
― Faisal Khosa
By Mary Guldan Lindstrom
