One of the things that I have often wondered is whether it is necessary to finish everything that I start. There is this quintessential image of a writer with heaps of torn paper next to him as he isn’t quite able to finish what he started satisfactorily.
I have come around to the thinking that it depends on the context.
It is not always necessary to finish what you started to make you feel like you have done something. At the same time, if you have started something as a promise to someone, then you better finish what you started.
Let me give it with an example.
Let’s say you started a habit of saying that you will write 1000 words everyday, or 3000 words a week. You do it religiously for a month and then life comes in the way. It is not necessary to be too hard on oneself and make one feel like a failure if you drop a few days or even totally stop. Starting something was much better than not starting anything in this case, and finishing it is not necessary. The problem here is not stopping what you start, but thinking that if you can’t finish, it is better not to start.
Now look at another context.
Let’s say you promised your audience that a book will be released in December. Or that you will send them a post from your writing every week for one year. Now this is something you would want to finish every single time. One can’t let anything come in the way of fulfilling a promise as it can impact trust and credibility. The problem here is that you started something that you weren’t sure you could finish. In this case, it was better to think through earlier and not start if you can’t finish it. Now that you have started it, you better finish it.
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