Give Yourself the Gift of Done

Topics: Goal setting, Personal development, Professional growth

“The start does matter. The beginning is significant. The first few steps are critical, but they aren’t the most important. 

Do you know what matters more? Do you know what makes the start look silly and easy and almost insignificant?

The finish.”

Jon Acuff, Finish

From me: Wait. Didn’t Jon Acuff write a book called Start? But now he’s saying that finishing is more important? Is this some maniacal plan of a gifted author to confuse his followers for the sake of them reading more of his works? I could picture it now, “First I’ll write a book about the start, and I’ll call it, wait for it… Start. Then, I’ll wait 4 years and release another book about finishing and I’ll call it… Finish. Brilliant!” 

Probably not.

And this is what I enjoy most about Jon Acuff’s books. When he wrote Quitter, the feedback he received was, how do I start? So he wrote Start. Then, as he continued to learn and help people start, he found that he needed to help people finish. So he wrote Finish. This book did so much more for me than help me progress to the finish line, it helped me grow in the journey of communication and goal setting. You start where you’re at. And at the end of Start, we needed to know how to finish—and how to finish well.

There’s this chapter, “The Day After Perfect”—I can’t get it out of my head. This year (2022) I started goals in lots of areas of my life: health, reading, learning, writing, dating (my wife), finances (financing sounded weird), running, and so much more. My greatest challenge isn’t in thinking of goals or even starting them, it’s continuing them that gets me caught. So what happens the day after perfect, the day after you fail? You start again, and you keep moving toward the finish line.

For you: So, maybe you’ve been really good at starting and don’t need to read Start, but actually, you’re part of the 92 percent of people who don’t finish. Isn’t that wild—92 percent of people don’t finish their New Year’s resolutions. “Though 100 percent start, only 8 percent finish.” (Jon Acuff).

Maybe your challenge isn’t the start, you’re good at starting. Maybe you struggle with follow-through, otherwise known as finishing. Check it out. As in all of his writing, Jon Acuff is able to provide sound, practical advice to help you, and me, finish what we’ve started, and laugh while we’re at it. He keeps the steps simple and memorable, easy to understand and usable for all who just want to finish even one goal this year. I mean, I think moving up the percentage of those who finish to 9 percent is doable, right?

If you’re looking to “give yourself the gift of done” this year, check it out here.