095: What You Start You Might Not Finish, but...Hey, You Started
How often do think about what you've started but didn't finish?
As you age that reality can become a more pressing issue - especially if you are beginning to feel the sting of regret about goals and accomplishments still undone.
Flip the script, give yourself some credit, and then use the pat-on-the-back to take action.
I see both regretful conviction and rewarding action in this quote:
"The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is...now!"
There's the regret of a missed deadline (20 years ago) but also the reward of a new timeline (now).
As a writer I'm accustomed to deadlines.
They occasionally sneak up on me but in my nearly two decades of writing professionally, I've discovered how to stay ahead of them.
A deadline is a "line" in the sand of sorts - a get it done or face the consequences motivation.
On the other hand I see a timeline as a compelling "line" of prioritized actions.
Aging can be a looming deadline reminding you of what has yet to be completed but it can also be a compelling timeline that gives you a reason to take action
A deadline perspective or a timeline perspective presents you with opportunity in your aging journey.
Essentially, it's about navigating what can feel like opposing forces.
- Expectations and hesitation
- Starting and finishing
- Commitment and completion
Close the gap between expectations and hesitation
Positive expectations give you a reason to take action.
And then hesitancy rears its head and you shrink back.
Aging gives you reasons to hesitate, doesn't it?
- Health concerns
- Financial concerns
- Past and present failures
- Feeling unqualified or that you've aged out
- Lack of energy or vitality
The gap between unfulfilled expectations and your reasons for hesitating won't diminish with age.
In fact, it might increase as you find more excuses to delay.
It's time to close the gap.
- Keep your expectations in check: evaluate them according to available time, current capacity or available energy, and a why-not mindset.
- Fulfill your expectations: give yourself permission to try something you've always wanted to do but hesitated for whatever reason.
- Give your expectations room to grow: start small, form a habit, rinse-and-repeat.
Take initiative for starting and finishing
Lack of initiative is to blame for most of what you failed to start.
- A healing conversation
- A book that's unread (or unwritten)
- A trip that never happened
- A decision that could change everything
Initiative is what gets you to the starting line.
Without initiative you'll stay in the shadows of your own self-doubt or self-loathing.
There is no finish line without a starting line.
I have days that I don't feel like running even though I know I have to train for an upcoming event.
Finishing that event without feeling like I've been run over by a train requires that I start weeks in advance.
Knowing the joy of finishing a running event requires that I start each training run by initiating the first step on the trail or street where I train.
Your initiative drives you to start and helps ensure that what you start - you finish.
- Discover more initiative through inspirational people, places, and things.
- Increase your initiative by stretching yourself to do more than you think you can.
- Reward your initiative by celebrating the small wins you achieve on the way to the "finish line."
Experience the energy gained from commitment and completion
Energy is in short supply when commitment is lacking.
How often has a wishy-washy attitude kept you from being decisive?
Once you decide and commit you will experience renewed energy and the excitement that bringing something to completion delivers.
- What about your age creates commitment-phobia?
- How have you dealt with challenging commitments through the years?
- What commitment is required for you to complete the one thing you desire to complete in this era of your life?
Energize your commitment with the following famous quotation from William Hutchinson Murray, a Scottish mountaineer:
"Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now." 1
The elements are there (in the quotation): "expectations," "initiative," "commitment" - starting is up to you!
- Close the gap between expectation and hesitation
- Take initiative for starting and finishing
- Experience the energy gained from commitment and completion
Press on...
Eddie
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