Do you consider yourself a person with little will, who puts things off and never finishes what he starts? Many people write to me commenting that they are not persistent, that they do not finish what they start, that they postpone everything or that they have no will. And recently I saw a video of one of my mentors, Marie Forleo, which is perfect for this situation and I summarize it for you here along with my opinion and personal experience.
Finishing things is plain and simple a habit, a habit. It is like brushing your teeth. If you don't wash them, it never gives you a terrible laziness, right? But if you get used to doing it, the opposite happens to you, you have to wash them or you suffer! And in fact you don't even have to think about it. Well this is the same, if you do not finish what you start it is simply because you are not used to it and it is a matter of creating that habit.
How do you create the habit? This is where Marie Forleo recommends four things:
1. Stop thinking that you have to enjoy the process at all times.
This tip is great. It seems that when you do something you like you have to be enjoying yourself all the time and if not, it is that something is wrong and it is not! Even though you enjoy most of the time (which may not be the case either), doing things is difficult and hard. For example, as much as you like to write, writing a book is very hard; or prepare a meal for 25 people if you are a chef, or blog and be consistent, or organize a photo exhibition. There are always hard parts and parts that you like less (or nothing). Everything costs and not everything is always fun, you have to be aware of that.
Sign this up, the difference between an amateur and a professional is that the professional finishes things at all costs. So keep that in mind because we are talking about your profession, you are a professional and successful professionals finish what they start, even if it is hard. Of course, you have to know how to distinguish this from self-sabotage of forcing yourself to finish things, because it is not the same to finish what is important, than to waste time because you are not able to leave something unfinished.
2. Start with the little things.
How do you cope with the small daily tasks? For example, reading and answering emails, posting on social media (if you do), replying to customers, etc. Do you finish what you start or do you have a jumble of things halfway? In other words, does your problem of not finishing what you start also extend to small day-to-day activities? This is very important because big projects are made up of small tasks and if you are not able to finish small things you will not be able to do big ones either.
So from now on when you are answering an email, for example, do not go to another and leave it halfway. It starts and ends one by one. Or if you start paying bills, don't leave some for later, finish what you start. Once you start to control the little things, the big things will take care of themselves, you'll see.
3. That is not optional.
The thing is clear, when you have no choice but to do something, you do it. It costs you more or less, you like it more or less. If you have to deliver a report tomorrow or if you don't get kicked out, you have it ready tomorrow, no matter how long it is. If you have to renew your passport this month, you renew it. When you have no other you finish things. And this is where Marie adds something especially interesting (in my opinion): the reason we don't finish things is because we give ourselves options to not do it, because we value more the promises we make to others than those we make to ourselves. themselves. As she says: “If you want to be responsible, keep the promises you make to others. If you want to be successful keep the promises you make to yourself. ”
4. One last recommendation, the project diet.
If you are an active or enterprising person, you will surely sign up for any project that seems interesting to you, but if you do not finish even half, you are wasting time and energy. So from now on, as I said to a client recently, to get on the no train or as Marie says in her video, to diet on projects. Choose one and until you finish it do not take another. Nothing to fill your plate with a thousand things to, in the end, not finish any…
Get used to finishing one thing before starting another and you will advance more. And I know what you are thinking: "Yes, of course, you have no idea how many things I have to do for yesterday, impossible to do just one." Error. If you keep doing it all at once you won't finish anything. Choose one, the most important one right now, finish it and start another one. Try it, you don't lose anything and it may change the way you do things.
