Finish What You Start
Are you frustrated by projects that seem almost finished but never deliver the results you expected?
Starting a project creates excitement, possibility, and momentum. Finishing it often requires a different kind of energy. The challenge is no longer solving the big problem. It is completing the smaller details, overcoming the final obstacles, and ensuring that the intended result is actually achieved.
I have a long track record of delayed finishes.
I once started painting the two-story entryway in our home. I completed everything I could reach but could not get to the highest section. Instead of finding a way to finish the job, I moved on. We lived with a multicolored entryway for nearly two years.
On another occasion, I started working on a friend’s car, encountered a problem, and did not finish the work until months later.
This was not because I was lazy. I had plenty of energy and was never afraid of hard work. In fact, part of the problem was that I enjoyed tackling difficult projects. I would begin with enthusiasm, complete the most challenging work, and then lose interest in tying the final bow. A new and more interesting challenge would appear, and I would convince myself that I could return to the unfinished project at any time.
As you can probably imagine, that habit frustrated the people closest to me. It also created stress for me as my list of partially completed projects continued to grow. Every unfinished task remained somewhere in the back of my mind, competing for attention and reminding me that another commitment had not been fulfilled.
I carried some of that tendency into my professional life as well.
In the corporate world, we frequently justified projects based on the savings that would result from workforce reductions. We invested time, money, and energy in implementing new systems or improving processes. Yet we almost never saw all the promised reductions come to fruition.
The major project work may have been completed, but the intended result had not been delivered. We had not always completed the difficult final steps required to change processes, eliminate redundant work, adjust responsibilities, and capture the projected savings.
We had started the game, played most of it, and then failed to finish.
Almost finished and finished are not the same. A project does not create value merely because most of the work has been completed. It creates value when the intended outcome has been achieved.
Leaders can unintentionally encourage unfinished work by celebrating launches, rewarding visible activity, and quickly moving everyone to the next exciting initiative. Meanwhile, partially completed projects continue consuming attention, money, and organizational energy. Over time, the growing list of unfinished commitments creates frustration and weakens confidence in the next initiative.
Execution requires more than enthusiasm at the starting line. It requires the discipline to remain focused after the excitement has faded, resolve the final obstacles, and carry the commitment across the finish line.
REFLECTION QUESTIONS
- Where are you or your team failing to finish?
- Which project is technically complete but has not yet delivered the result that justified beginning it?
CHALLENGE
Before launching another initiative, identify one important unfinished commitment. Complete the remaining work, capture the intended value, and close the loop.
Starting creates possibility. Finishing creates results.
