Make Finishing Your Focus

Principle #4: Self-leadership means completing what’s important to you.

Make finishing your focus.

If you have ever participated in team sports you have probably heard a coach say, “It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish.” This is excellent advice—not just for a game, but for life. We all know the person with the ideas; always spinning their web and starting things but never seeing it to fruition. This is poor self-leadership.

This principle dovetails nicely with Principle #3 in that it takes discipline to do what is important to you, but it also takes discipline to see those things through. It has been said, “We rate ability in men by what they finish, not by what they attempt.” So true. You do not get Brownie points for ideas that sit on your to-do list. And you certainly do not receive accolades for the project you started but then shelved for lack of discipline.

The strong self-leader knows how to finish and finish strong.

He is governed by a confident passion that stems from his clear vision of what matters most to him. She is a person of values. Because she has such a clear vision, she knows how to schedule her life in a way that empowers her to achieve tasks designed around her strengths. His clarity and passion are key to finishing a project.

If you want to be coached by the best, then listen to John Wooden: “It's not so important who starts the game but who finishes.”