This is probably the most repetitive thing I tell my wrestlers: Finish! You don’t get credit for taking a shot, you get your points when you finish the shot. Do this over and over again, and you win the match. This may seem intuitive, but you would be surprised at how much effort is spent on things that are never finished.
Farnam Street made this crystal-clear in their weekly blog:
“The person who finishes one race beats the person who starts a hundred and never finishes.”
I know things can get hectic on the farm or ranch. We have a hundred things to do and little time to get them done. Every farm or ranch has unfinished projects. Eventually, the unfinished projects will catch up to us until we start to feel overwhelmed.
Making a priority list has helped me attack and complete projects. I try to break bigger projects down into manageable tasks. For example, we redid all our corrals two years ago. This has been great, but we still have panels in areas that are unfinished. I focus on these areas one at a time. Each area is a task that I can finish and mark off my list. Eventually, the entire project will be completed!
Completing unfinished projects builds momentum. Similar to the Dave Ramsey approach with debt, each project completed is a small win that motivates us to complete the next project. Little by little, we get caught up and have more time for other things.
Quote Worth Re-Quoting
“Success is not achieved by simply starting – but by persistently finishing what you’ve started.” ~ Peter Hollins