Optimism

When you finish what your start more than often, you feel a sense of accomplishment and joy that is priceless.

Do you remember all promises your Local MLA made in the last election? Or what all targets were set in the Budget by the finance minister? Most likely, the answer is a “No.” Is it your fault? Definitely Not, It’s the media, the tv news channels, newspapers, and the digital news portals. They fail to follow through and remind the government and us before it’s too late. By the time we realize nothing was achieved as promised, it’s time for another election. Old targets are rebranded and presented to us, and we happily accept them. The cycle goes on, and everyone lives happily ever after.

The problem is the lack of following through; the media’s job is not to only report the issues and move on. One key aspect is to do a deep dive to revisit what is being done to fix the problems. Check if any progress has been made? What are the bottlenecks? And make authorities answerable; as a result, the country doesn’t progress as it should. Similarly, we aren’t productive and don’t progress as individuals until we learn to follow through and finish what we start.

The Importance of Following Through and Finishing What You Start

How do you feel when you start watching a movie or a documentary, get immersed in it, and for some reason, you have to stop it mid-way? Remember, as kids, we played with our friends every evening, and our parents called out saying it was getting dark or it was study time. Not a good feeling for sure. We feel good when things are complete. It makes life meaningful. Another small example, how would you feel if someone took away your dinner plate before you finished it?

Now, if we apply this in our personal daily life or professional work, in that case, it is essential to complete whatever we start. Let’s say you want to learn an art or play an instrument. Like in my case, playing guitar, I’ve had two, and it’s been more than a decade, and I’m yet to learn it. Why? I never followed through or tracked my progress. Maybe I never wanted to put that hard work and long hours of practice. Hence following through is something we need to learn and inculcate in our behaviors.

In professional life, it becomes even more crucial. Because you work on multiple deliverables every day, and it’s easy to lose track, start on something new and keep piling up more work for yourself. That’s one reason we create the To-Do’s and trackers, revisit the progress and make required changes.

Ironically, we tend to do well in following through in professional life because we are more disciplined and more eyes watch our performance. However, when it comes to our personal goals, most of us are not that efficient. The result is similar to what happens when Media doesn’t do its job. We end up affecting our progress and jeopardizing our goals. When you finish what your start more than often, you feel a sense of accomplishment and joy that is priceless. Hence, you should always track your progress and try to complete even the smallest goal you may have set for yourself.

How to Finish What You Start?

Discipline is crucial in life; the smallest things like getting enough sleep, staying physically active, and eating healthy are impossible if we are not disciplined. Discipline and focus do help in completing things. However, is being disciplined easy? Yes and No. However, there are a few ways that help improve our ability to finish things off instead of leaving them mid-way.

1. Check Water Level Before Diving Deep

The primary reason we don’t complete something is that we aren’t genuinely interested or ready to do it in the first place and start half-heartedly. Remember you paid a hefty amount to a gym but never went there more than a couple of times. Why? Because you joined it just because your friend pushed you. It helps if we check and take time and start something only if we genuinely want to do it. The motivation has to come from within. Discuss with your inner voice and go head. Or, chances are you will feel bored and end up wasting time you could have invested in doing something more productive.

2. Commit to the Task

There is always a trade-off in whatever you do. Let’s say you want to change your habit of waking up late; then, you will have to give up on late nights and hit the bed at the earliest. If not, your plan to fix your circadian rhythm will always stop at snoozing your wake-up alarm. Hence, it is imperative to prioritize and stick to what’s most pressing and critical; it can mean skipping tempting distractions.

3. Stop Being a Perfectionist

Perfection is a myth. Nothing is perfect, and it doesn’t need to be. The only thing that matters is giving our best. Often, we try too hard, and our fascination with perfection and overthinking puts a brake on progress. Whatever you embark upon, you are bound to fail at times or not do so well. Yet if you continue doing it, eventually, you will get it done. Imagine if our mom’s stopped caring for us when we did something wrong as a kid, citing the reason we are not growing up as she had expected. Instead, in most cases, she kept improving the spoilt child, who is doing great as an adult now.

4. Follow-up and Celebrate

Following up is the key; however, celebrating and enjoying the little milestones is also essential. It is another aspect where we do slightly better in our professional lives than in our personal lives. At work, your leaders and team remind you to celebrate when you achieve smaller targets in your self-improvement journey or ambition. In comparison, you become too harsh on yourself and forget to enjoy your victories at personal goals. Make sure you find time to have fun when you do well. It gives further motivation. So next time, remember to not only fix issues during your follow-ups but cherish the smallest of progress.

5. Quitting Is Not a Crime

Every path doesn’t lead to the destination, and if you find yourself on the road with a dead end. It’s better to stop and find a detour before you come to a standstill. Suppose something is not working out, even after trying out all the tricks and putting in tons of effort. You should stop and analyze it. Is it worth continuing? Biases like effort justification and planning fallacy affect our thinking. We either overestimate the importance of the task or start justifying by thinking I’ve spent so much effort and time. If I give up now, everything goes for nothing. However, by giving up, you are saving time and a window for doing something that might work. Unlearning is one way to recognize and deal with our biases.

“Every path doesn’t lead to the destination, and if you find yourself on the road with a dead end. It’s better to stop and find a detour before you come to a standstill.”

~ Gaurav Sinha

Wrapping Up

Like everything else in life, this post must be concluded. I hope this small dose of self-improvement resonated with you all. We may not be able to change the world and chaos around us. However, we can certainly change ourselves by improving a tiny bit every day. Learning to finish what you start helps bring closure to aspirations and dreams. Do share your thoughts and other ways to help others in their self-improvement journey.