Finish What You Start: Adopt the Finisher Mindset to Get More Done

When was the last time you set goals but never accomplish them? Do you start strong with great ideas, but you don’t really complete them? This is a common issue most people have, they’re a good starter, but they’re not a good finisher.

No matter what you want to achieve in life, be it to build a successful blog or to lose weight, you must adopt the finisher mindset in order to complete what you started.

Starting is good, but it is only the first step.

When it comes to getting the results you desire, you need to push yourself to go through the process and finish the job.

Don’t just set a goal and then work until half-way and never finish it.

A lot of people have goals and dreams, but sadly, most of them didn’t see their goals and dreams to the finish.

They started strong with a lot of great ideas, but they just don’t execute and finish what they started.

Let me ask you, when was the last time you save?

We all know that saving a portion of our income is important. And through savings alone, we can amass huge amounts of wealth.

But we’re not wired to be a good finisher.

We started our savings plan this month, and before the end of next month, we have taken the money and used it elsewhere.

Having a completed project is more powerful than having 10 half-baked projects.

Do you know that it doesn’t matter how many goals you started?

You can have 100 goals, but if you don’t work on all those goals and see them to the finish, having 100 goals is as good as having no goal at all.

What if you adopt the finisher mindset and complete just a few important goals that can truly give a positive impact on your life?

Don’t you think that your life will change completely?

There is no point to start 10 blogs or have 10 book ideas if you are not going to finish them.

You don’t need to have 10 blogs, you just need to have 1 successful blog and it will be a game-changer.

Like writing books. If you have 10 unfinished books, you can’t publish any of them.

However, if you have just one completed book, you can send to the publishers and distribute them to become a published author.

And this alone will change your life.

This is why adopting the finisher mindset is important.

It is crucial to finish what you started. Don’t just commit to starting, you must also commit to finishing what you have begun.

Here are a couple of tips to help you become a finisher:

1. Begin with the end in mind and see the results you want.

The first thing you need to do to become a finisher is to start with the end in your mind.

You want to see the results you want. Thus, visualize and identify the outcome you desire.

Without having a clear direction or a specific outcome, it is difficult to program your mind to take action.

When you are clear with what you want, you are giving a set of specific instructions to your mind of what to do and how to get there.

For instance, if you want to build a successful blog, what must happen in order to have a successful blog?

In other words, you must define the success you want.

How many visitors do you want to have to your blog each month? Which big publications or news are your blogs going to feature in? How much is your revenue you are going to get from your blog?

See the results you want and then work on them.

2. Identify your pattern of behavior and find the triggers that cause you to procrastinate.

Next, you want to identify the pattern of behavior. This is important because most people don’t finish what they started due to procrastination.

And you want to find out what is the cause of your procrastination.

Remember, procrastination is not the cause, it is merely a symptom. The root cause is something that makes you procrastinate.

In other words, find out why you procrastinate.

• Do you give up because you fear failure?
• Are you not doing it because you think it is going to take up a huge chunk of your time?
• Do you think the task is too technical and difficult for you?
• Are you constantly being distracted and often forget to take action until it is too late?

Read: Top 10 Reasons Why Do People Procrastinate and How To Overcome It

Now, once you have identified your pattern of behavior and why you procrastinate, you can then proceed to the following step…

3. Work on fixing and overcoming the root of your procrastination.

Yes, work on fixing and getting rid of the root causes that make you procrastinate.

If you procrastinate because you think the task is too difficult and lack the technical skill, then find out how you can solve this.

For example, if you want to start a blog but you have no idea how to set it up, and because of this you procrastinate on it, find out how you can overcome this problem.

Perhaps, you can hire someone else to set up the blog for you. Or maybe you can spend your Saturday to learn how to do so. There are plenty of resources from Google and even teachings from YouTube.

Once you have identified the problem, you just need to overcome it.

And if you can get rid of your problem, there will be nothing more to stop you from moving forward.

This is how you can become a finisher and get your goals done.

4. Plan your day, week, month, and year, and put everything onto paper.

Success is not an accident. You don’t wake up the next day and find that your goals have been accomplished.

No, to finish what you started, you must plan for it and work on it, diligently.

The reason people are not completing their goals or living their dream life is that they don’t consciously plan for it.

All they do is they think about it and daydreaming about it, and nothing else.

If you are serious about getting things done and achieving your goals, you must plan for it.

Get yourself a journal or a diary and start planning your day, week, month, and year in advance.

Things may not happen exactly as what you have expected, but it is the process of planning that makes all the difference.

When you plan, you are telling your mind what to do and how to anticipate when things happen.

You want to train your mind to consciously and actively work on what you want rather than being reactive and respond to everything that happens.

5. Be realistic and set expectations.

Sometimes, people feel dejected and quit on their goals because they set unrealistic expectations for what they want.

They want to make a million dollars in a year. They want to lose 10kg in just a week.

These are unrealistic expectations that will only destroy your confidence and make you lose your motivation.

When you first begin, you want to build up your momentum and confidence.

Thus, don’t set unrealistic goals or expect something too big or too fast.

Now, I’m not saying that you can’t achieve big things fast, but you must understand your own capabilities, especially in the early stage.

Once you have gained a better experience and have higher confidence, then you can set a bigger goal and put up a higher expectation.

6. Track, measure and review your progress every day.

How do you know if you are moving forward or backward from your goals? The only way to know is to track and measure your progress.

A lot of people don’t measure their progress, as a result, they don’t know how they are doing.

When you can see how much progress you have made, you will feel more motivated to continue and work on your goals.

On the contrary, if you can’t tell if you are making a difference, you will never bother doing the work. Why do it when what you do are not going to get you the results you want, right?

This is why you must track and measure your progress.

Review your progress every day. See your progress and notice how much you have done.

7. Focus on your goals and rewards.

How often do you think about your goals in a day? And what are your dominant thoughts?

Ordinary people think about things and other people, while extraordinary people think about their goals and the success they want.

And this is what makes the biggest difference of all.

You become what you think about most of the time.

If you think about playing games all the time, guess what, you will fill your life with games, and playing games will become your central activity.

The same if you always think about what movies to watch. You will end up spending time watching more movies than others who don’t think about it.

Remember this principle – where the focus goes, energy flows.

If you want to achieve your goals and become a finisher, focus on the goals and the results you desire.

Read: How to Reward Yourself for Your Hard Work and Effort

8. Start small and complete one small step at a time.

To finish a project, you must focus on starting small. I know it sounds contradicting, but this is how things work.

If you are trying to tackle an entire project at one go, you will feel overwhelmed and procrastinate more often.

But when something is so small and so easy to do, you will do it without much putting in much thought.

And this is exactly how a finisher looks at things.

No matter what goal or project you want to complete, you must start small and begin with just one easy step.

Remember what Lao Tzu said?

“The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”

Therefore, break down your task into smaller actionable pieces where you can work on.

For example, when it comes to exercise, I don’t focus on working out for an hour, I only think about getting change and do a little bit of stretching. And it takes less than a minute to do so.

So, I focus on changing to my sports attire and doing some simple stretching. How difficult can that be?

Of course, once I’m in action, the momentum will build up. That’s the time when I will start focusing on doing other exercises like push-ups.

This is how you tackle all your tasks – focusing and taking one small step at a time.

9. Reward yourself for your hard work.

People won’t on something if they don’t feel good about or they don’t get anything in return. It’s just human nature.

We all expect something from our doing, this is why we set goals.

We want success and we want to live a better life, this is why we dream, plan, and work on our goals each day.

Hence, don’t just work hard, reward yourself for your hard work.

Once you have completed and worked on a small task, reward yourself. Take a few seconds to feel good.

Think about you making your goals a reality.

Yes, it is hard work, but you have done it. You are making progress, no matter how small it is, you are progressing forward. And that’s good news.

So, celebrate and reward yourself for your progress.

The more you acknowledge your hard work, the more driven you will become to take even more action and achieve more.

10. Commit and just do it.

The main difference between a finisher and someone who doesn’t finish what they started is their mentality.

A finisher is absolutely committed to their goals, tasks, work, whatever. But someone who doesn’t get things done is not as committed.

They often give excuses as to why they can’t finish their work.

They will tell you that they don’t have time, they lack motivation, they don’t know how to do it, they have children to take care of, they have work to do, etc.

The point is that when you are 100% committed, you will do whatever it takes to get the job done.

Even if it is late at night, if you are committed, you will sacrifice your sleep and get the work done.

For someone who is truly committed, they will never make excuses. To them, they will do it no matter what. This is why they are finishers, they get things done regardless of how they feel.

Never let your emotion gets over you.

When you allow your emotions and feelings to control you, you will procrastinate when you don’t feel like doing it.

Instead, learn to handle your emotions. Learn to manage your feelings.

When I started to build my course, Goal Setting Formula, I was excited, until I discover how much work and how difficult it is to put up a membership site.

I don’t have the technical skills and I have to learn everything from scratch. But, guess what, despite letting my emotions get ahead of me, I learn to press on and get the course done.

I’m proud to tell you that I have created a masterclass called Goal Setting Formula to help people set better goals and achieve what they truly want in life.

The key to all this? Commitment.

I told myself that I must do it no matter what. I don’t to be just an ordinary blogger, I want to contribute to the community and inspire more people to achieve their goals and live the life they desire.

What about you?

Are you committed to your goals and living your dreams? Are you willing to do whatever it takes to get things done?

Or you are just going to do what is convenient and what is easy?

The choice is yours.

But I’m here to encourage you to do the difficult things. Challenge yourself and finish what you started.

If you have goals, get them done. See them to the finish. Don’t start a new project until you have completed the one you have at hand.

Then you too can become a finisher, an achiever.