Be Someone Who Finishes Things

If you're just in the opening stages and you're already feeling like you want to give up, it can't be something that's very important to you. And I would give up and I would move on to something else. But if you're halfway through, do not give up. Keep going. It's something that's important to you. How do you know when to stick with something or give up on it and move on to something new? It depends on how far you're into it and the level of engagement and desire that's involved. If it's something that matters a lot to you, it's something that you've wanted to build or create for many, many years, it reaches something very deep within you, it has a personal effect and you're drawn to it personally, then you don't want to give up. Now, it depends on what's making you want to give up. Are you bored? Are you restless? Are you distracted? Is there some new shiny object that interests you? Well, that means your level of engagement and desire was a bit thin. It really wasn't attached to you that deeply. It probably didn't matter to you that much. Yes, it's okay to give up. But usually when it's something that's very deep and very important to you, when you reach that point where you're frustrated, you might contemplate giving up. But part of you goes, I can't give up because it means so much to me. I'm so deeply involved. It's so important to me. And you're conflicted. And then you must push past that inner conflict. You must push past those doubts and go ahead and build it and continue on. I tell people in any venture, when you're frustrated, when something isn't working out and you're blocked and you don't know where to go next, it's a sign that something is happening in your brain, something positive is happening. Unconsciously, wheels are turning in there. And your frustration is merely a sign that you're not aware of the progress that you're making unconsciously. And you have to push through it. I tell the story, or I read about the story, about the great German composer Johannes Brahms. He was working on a symphony. He was completely blocked. He was going to give up on it. And he gave up on it because he couldn't figure it out. And then the next day, suddenly it all came to him, all the ideas, because he had given up on it, because he decided to move on. That's another thing that can happen to you because he didn't really give up. He was really secretly hoping for a solution to come to him at some point. So if you're just in the opening stages and you're already feeling like you want to give up, it can't be something that's very important to you. And I would give up and I would move on to something else. But if you're halfway through, if you're two thirds the way through, whatever you need it is, do not give up, keep going. It's something that's important to you, right? So the key to everything in life is going at tasks and work that have a deep personal engagement to you, that mean a lot to you, that have something that you've been attracted to for your whole life. And all of your emotions are sort of fixated on this thing. And so when you have moments when you want to give up, your level of desire and love for the actual work will overcome those moments of giving up. But you don't want to be somebody who's always distracted, who's always seeing, oh, there's something new and exciting out there. I want to join that because it seems more fun than the tedious task of completing this project. If that's what's motivating you, you're in a shitload of trouble in life because that's going to be a pattern you're going to set and you'll never ever finish anything. One thing I would say is, sometimes for the sake of your own soul, even if you don't like it anymore, finish the damn thing so you have a sense of, I finished it, I did it, I actually accomplished it. I'm not, maybe it wasn't much fun, but now I know what it's like to finish something. I'm not going to set that pattern in my life of having half-fulfilled dreams, half-assed kind of thoughts and wishes. I'm going to actually finish something to the end.