“Finish your shot!” “Follow through!” These are the words I hear often at my children’s basketball games from the parents in the stands. For those of you with children in this sport, you know that these commands are instructing the kids to not just throw up the ball and move on, but rather to see it through to either ensure it goes in or to rebound the ball and try again. In short, don’t give up.
I have learned more about the sport of basketball in the last several years than I ever thought I would. While I am in no way an expert and still have to tap the person next to me on the shoulder from time to time to understand a ref’s call, I get the basics. Well, I think I do until my children correct me.
Interestingly, this chant was heard a lot at my son’s game last night as the kids literally threw away shots because they didn’t follow through. We lost the game, not only because of this mistake, but others. However, the lesson is clear. Finish what you start.
Today, while on the treadmill watching “Enjoying Everyday Life” with Joyce Meyer – guess what her message was? Finish what you start. Hmmm – is someone trying to tell me something?
I hear from many of my mompreneur friends and colleagues that they find it hard to stay the course in their businesses because they are distracted by so many other new ideas or projects. We call them “shiny apples”. We hear many times from entrepreneurial gurus – “Ignore the shiny apples!” Why? Because they will derail you faster than you think.
I believe those ‘shiny apples’ are tests – not only for your business but for your life. When we let our attention move from our vision, then the waters get muddied, the goals get pushed out, the success we’d hoped for eludes us.
Think about it. You make a decision (have a vision) to clean out your closet. You have a plan and you have scheduled the time. You take everything out of the closet and begin sorting those items to keep, throw away, or donate.
You come across an old book or photo album or “shiny apple” and you stop what you’re doing and focus on it. You spend a few minutes going through these items which quickly turns into a few hours. Ut oh. Your scheduled time is over and your task is left incomplete. Now what?
You either throw everything back into the closet and beat yourself up for not finishing what you started, or you extend the deadline and now rush through the project with less clarity, or, you do nothing and leave the mess on the floor.
All bad ideas. The project you had on your slate for the day is undone. You are left feeling like a failure. Why? Because you didn’t follow your shot.
I remember many of the projects I worked on in my corporate career. I was always excited to be asked to be on a new project team. I loved the meetings where we honed in on the vision and developed the goals. I enjoyed seeing the task list and roles assigned. I was excited for the end goal to be accomplished.
Then the inevitable happened. Things got delayed; the project scope changed, or worse, people didn’t do the work they committed to doing. As time went along, the excitement for the project diminished and it became another “chore” to do as people lost the motivation to finish or got pulled onto a new project causing them to leave this one behind, unfinished.
I am in the midst of many projects at this time. Some of them are shiny apples (redecorating my home) and some are real (my upcoming tele-class series). I have allowed myself to get derailed on both projects and I have had days when there’s been no motivation to complete either.
But today, as I walked on my treadmill and listened to Joyce telling me to stay the course, I was renewed. I will finish redecorating my home and I will push forward on delivering my tele-class. I will view those shiny apples for what they are – tests. Tests to see how committed I am. I will ignore their temptation and remain faithful.
I encourage you to finish what you start. Persevere through the good and bad times. Stay the course when you see no light at the end of the tunnel. Your children will see that you are faithful to your vision and learn from you. They will see this example and not give up when that science fair project loses its appeal after a few day’s work.
For it is that stick-to-it attitude that builds character and integrity. Isn’t that the example you want your children to see in you?