Finishing – The Second Hardest Thing
Much is made of starting; it is the hardest thing. We lament its prospect. We’ve named the behavior of non-starting – procrastination – which many consider a condition or a failing or a personality type.
In “Do the Work,” Steven Pressfield’s insightful analysis of this difficulty with starting, he names the force we experience Resistance. Resistance, says Pressfield, is the ever-present enemy within us all that must be battled daily so that results can be produced.
Many have addressed starting and its accomplice, proscrastination. Here are a few:
- Combating Procrastination, published by Carnegie Mellon University
- Overcoming Procrastination, published by Mind Tools
- Procrastination Tools, published by Oregon State University
Techniques and suggestions for beating procrastination and getting started can be found in those works.
Fast Forward to the End
But what of starting’s silent partner – finishing? Getting our work to closure is often a struggle too. If fact, behind starting, finishing up is the second hardest thing to accomplish. Whether it’s the actual work or its remnants, failure to lay tasks and projects to their final rest can create just as many problems as failure to start can.