Putting out fires? Meditation for 3/11/14

Yemessee SC

“We rate ability in men by what they finish; not what they start.”  - Unknown

“Finishing races is important, but racing itself is more important.”  - Dale Earnhardt

“It’s the job that is never started that’s the toughest to finish.”  - J.R. Tolkien

     It is said that showing up is half the battle.  It is said that getting started is half the battle.    There are times we struggle with procrastination – starting on things that we know need to be done.  But after we overcome that and get underway, many of us struggle again.  We have a habit of getting things most of the way to completion, then launching some new endeavor.  The next thing we know we have a life full of half-done projects that annoy us.

     Unfinished projects have a way of decaying, and something we had ninety percent of the way done has a way of deteriorated to sometimes being worse than it was had it never been started.  It has been popular to talk about “multi-tasking,” but how often does that really work?  Don’t we soon find ourselves just running back and forth putting out fires, annoyed when we have to revisit projects that in our mind we had finished? 

      There is a joy to be had by learning to bring things to completion – to putting on the finishing touches.  We can stand back and say “I did that,” and then allow ourselves to fully focus on the planning stage of the next project before us.  We have more confidence in ourselves as we know we are a person that sees things through.   In the long run we are more efficient because we are not foolishly burning energy refocusing all the time.  And if it is what others think of us that is driving us to do this?  Well, no one is revered for the number of projects they left unfinished.

Today, may I be complete.  

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