You Keep What You Kill

by EvilTwinBrian on

That’s the catch, you’ve got to finish it, otherwise, it’s pointless. We’re too busy chasing the next wave of inspiration, not realizing that all the winners are the ones that actually finish the game. I’m not speaking from a position of success, telling you all how I “did it”. I’m equally guilty of pouncing on the next shiny new object that crosses my path as well. There has got to be a point where we all accept that leaving a bunch of tasks sitting around unfinished, only to label them as “I’ll finish that someday”, will never accomplish much. We’ve all got tasks sitting around, partially complete. Like half cleaned offices, partially built projects, unfinished manuscripts, or a half checked to-do list.

Guess what, today is someday. You get to tackle a project, finish it up, and collect your reward. You get to keep what you kill. Wake up and see that no one is handing out medals to the person that got closest to the finish line. You’ve got to cross it. You don’t have to be the best, but until you reach that point, it doesn’t count. Your project doesn’t exist. It’ll never get into anyone’s hands, as long as you’re sitting around talking about getting it done. There is no trophy for “best product description”.

Talking About it

You don’t get this bad boy by talking about your Karate

I’m the type of guy that spends a lot of time doing research on new things I want to learn or accomplish. I usually spend months reading blogs, watching YouTube videos, or downloading ebooks from the kindle store. What I don’t do is to actually take that step to see what I need to be learning, or what areas I should spend time researching. I put the uniform on, then sit around watching other people play the game. I convince myself that it’ll be awesome when I dive right in, but I spend far more time than I need to warm up. There are a couple of things I’ve done fairly quickly, even with the prerequisite research. Like PowerLifting, and Archery. But more often than not, I usually spend more time wondering what the end result will feel like, rather than taking on the challenge and actually finding out.

I’d like to use this blog to post more about the personal projects that I’ve got sitting around, just so I can feel some sense of accountability that will force some momentum. More than that, though, I’d like you guys to all take a look at your project list and pick something to finish. Embrace the figurative Necromonger inside you, and finish off a project that has been eating away at you. Go get those trophies that you can place on your mantle, showing you’ve finished yet another project or learned a new skill. Be better today, than you were yesterday.

(This was originally posted on my other blog, NRRDS.com)

Written by: EvilTwinBrian

1 Comment

Franklin Kendrick

This is so true. The struggle with shiny new things is always present, and it takes some pretty hard determination to not abandon a work in progress and see it through to the end. Luckily my list of actual drafts that have been abandoned is pretty low, but I do have a lot of planned outlines that need to be worked on. This post gave me a kick in the pants to keep going. Thank-you, and definitely wishing you the best of luck with all your projects, Brian! (Back to the spreadsheet to decide which project to complete first…)

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