Do You Finish What You Start?

The beginning of a new project is an exciting time. There is energy flowing around the inception of the project, amplified by the personalities contributing to getting the project off the ground. If you’re working in such an environment, it’s easy to find the enthusiasm to get to work each morning. But here’s the catch – is the energy sustainable? Many people are great at getting a project off the ground…but can they bring it to fruition and keep it in the air over the long run?

There’s been so much written about this over the years I barely know where to start. I think of so many stories and life-lesson accounts told to me by friends who have impressions about the matter…the matter of seeing a project through to completion, being diligent and following up on details that will enable the project to succeed, and managing distractions that would otherwise get in the way of the project’s progress.

Did you know that only 59% of students who begin a 4-year college degree in the USA graduate within a 6-year timeframe? We’re not talking of graduating in 4 years…we’re talking about getting the task done inside a window of 6 years! These are recent statistics from the US Department of Education. This means almost 40% do not finish what they start within the expected time frame! Why is this?

My friends in industry have told me time and time again that their salesmen routinely do not call back potential leads after the initial contact is made. That means all the work that went into creating the initial contact goes to waste. One executive I spoke with estimates that 50% of followup calls never get made. Can you imagine how much more successful and profitable that business might be if followup activity was more consistent? What’s the reason for this?

What do employers know when they hire a college graduate, particularly one who graduated in 4 years? They can be confident that: here’s a person who can see a long-term task through to completion, in the expected time frame. Do they necessarily want an honor student in their company? Do they want someone with lots of participation in on-campus activities? Well, top grades and being well-rounded in social aspects are significant, but being a person who finishes what he or she starts is the more important aspect the employer is looking for.

Let’s make the examples a little more personal: you have a sore throat, persistent cough and low-grade fever. You visit your doctor, he diagnoses the illness to be bronchitis and prescribes an antibiotic. The directions say to take the medicine for 10 days. You take the medicine for 6 days, feel better, and don’t take the medicine for the remaining 4 days. The illness returns and you have to go back to the doctor, who gives you a lecture about finishing the medicine regardless of how you feel. Sound familiar? Notice the theme of finishing the project! Why do we operate like this? I’ll pick two easy ideas for you to consider.

Ever notice how we human beings love to underestimate the time required for a project, and how we tend to get distracted so easily? I would say both dynamics are just a few of the reasons why we don’t finish what we start.

For instance, how many times have you contemplated a project in your home and said to yourself, “it’ll only take a half-hour”….then you got into the project and it took far longer to complete than the 30 minutes you set aside? Projects that take longer than the time allotted for them are easily put off finishing to another day, because other life demands start clamoring for that time to be spent on them; “I can’t finish the project now, I have to go get the kids from preschool”…and now the stage is set to simply put off finishing the project indefinitely.

As far as distractions go, our modern culture is saturated with them. Folks are so affected by distractions there have even arisen scientific schools of thought designed to deal with them…the world of attention-deficit disorders. Distractibility can be equated with having a difficulty delaying gratification. It just plain feels good to check that email you just got a tone notification of than ignore it and keep plugging away at that article you’re writing for work. But is it really helping you get that project completed?

So, how good are you at finishing tasks you begin? It’s clear that many of your successes in life depend on it!  Do you let distractions get the best of you? And do you accurately estimate the amount of time projects will require? Great questions to ponder as we head toward the holidays!