On my last trip to the US I was in the hotel gym, a small room with a Peleton bike and a few weights and the above sign was staring me in the face. I loved it. It resonated with me and my philosophy of life. Let me tell you why!
Finish what you start. It sounds simple, and it is simple, but it is hard to do. Yet it is undeniably true. (Newsflash, everything worthwhile is often simple but hard.) And this line, ‘finish what you start’ is most definitely a solid success principle. There is no magic in it. Just truth.
All through school, from age 5 to age 21 when I left university, I was never the most intelligent or the most talented, but I did well enough – I can still remember the surprised look on friend’s and family member’s faces when I got a First Class Honours – mainly because I finished what I started.
I did the work. I committed the hours. I didn’t give up or let myself off the hook or cut corners. I just finished what I started whether it was a big thing like a university degree or a small thing like a weekly homework. I tell you this just to point out a super obvious success principle. This is good news! No super-human abilities are required. Just finish what you start.
If you don’t finish what you start you’re not giving yourself much chance to experience the fruits of your labour. If others are doing well, don’t for a second chalk it up to them being smarter, luckier, or more talented – the truth is usually they just finish what they start. Over and over and over. It’s how they operate.
I think this ‘finish what you start’ thing is getting worse not better in the world. It’s harder and harder to stay the course because there are so many distractions and choices in the world today.
When I left home in 1998 we had 5 British TV channels and 2 Irish channels. Back then you would watch a program from start to finish and you’d look forward to the day it was on. Fast forward to today and there is an infinite number of choices of what to watch and kids prefer YouTube. They won’t even finish a video – they’ll jump around to see what catches their attention next. And who has the time to watch an 8-minute YouTube video anyway when YouTube Shorts are so much shorter?! All that does NOT help to build anybody’s ‘stick-to-it-ive-ness’. With endless choices everywhere for everything, it is hard. So we all need to build the muscle to finish what you start when it matters.
Show me anyone doing extremely well in any field and I’ll show you someone who finishes what they start. Take even the youngest superstar athletes. When did the tennis star Carlos Alcarez start playing tennis? Age 4. So when he went professional at age 16 he had been sticking to it for 12 years. The 19-year-old Coco Gaugh has been playing and sticking to it for 13 years already. The principle is true. Steven King says ‘talent is cheaper than table salt.’ He writes every day and has done for over 50 years. His success is mainly down to being prolific, sticking to it for a long time, and finishing what he starts.
Everyone who is achieving more than average success is playing what Dorrie Clark calls ‘the long game.’ So much achievement is lost just because people don’t finish what they start. If they just kept going and fully committed, they would get to the higher levels and higher rewards.