Writing, Among Other Things

Finish What You Start!

“Well begun is half done,” Aristotle said. And Aristotle, as we all know, was a very smart man. This quote by Aristotle, however, presents only one part of the picture, and the picture is quite incomplete without the other half, which is as important as the first half. This other half can be summarised with Shakespeare’s line, “All’s well that ends well”.

In my discussions with friends and peers, I often come across instances where someone starts writing something, and then, somewhere in the middle, they lose interest and give up. I myself have done that many times. An idea strikes me. I sit down on my computer in right earnest, and then, half way through, I feel that the idea was not as exciting as it initially seemed. I lose all interest in completing what I had started, and the piece remains unfinished forever.

Does that ever happen to you?

If you are anything like me, you must have had something like that happen to you too.

Lately, however, I have changed my approach. When I start writing something, I make sure that I take it to it’s logical conclusion. Sometimes, I am not satisfied with the end result, but I always have the option of improving it later.

However well you begun something, it will not mean much if you don’t end it well, or do not end it at all. On the other hand, if you manage to finish something with flair, there is a very good chance that people will forget, or ignore, how you had begun. So, focusing on the endings is just as important as focusing on the beginnings.

Finishing what you begin is important as it makes you more productive. If you leave your pieces unfinished, you are, in turn, letting many of your ideas go waste. Starting things, and not completing them, leads to a feeling of dissatisfaction that can accumulate over a period of time, and eventually result in the much feared writer’s block. On the other hand, if you get into the habit of finishing everything you start, you become confident that once you sit down to write, you will get up only when you have got something to post on your blog, or something to send to the editor, whichever the case may be.

Sometimes, it is mere laziness, that stops us from finishing things. We might find any excuse for not completing what we started, but the fact is that we are not willing to do that extra work that is required to complete our piece. By making a habit of completing most – if not all – things we start with, we can get into the habit of working just a little bit extra and, as a result, produce excellent work. Would you not want that?

Image courtesy: cobrasoft from sxc.hu

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6 Comments

  1. Vivek

    Not only writing I think its the same with every new thing that you start, be it a painting or a business venture. Successful or not it should be finished and should not be left in the middle. Nice post.

  2. TinaDaja

    Really nice post. Even we are doing something new in our project we should also finish it and do all and everything to finish it. – but in this case successfull. 🙂 Thank you for this post. Read it as i came back to my desk from a meeting. Very inspiring.

  3. Vivek

    Its not only writing, we form a habit of leaving things in the middle.May be we tend to do too many things at the same time that leave us with things that are on higher priority.

    Things left once are more or less left forever.
    But you had inspired me to do something that I had left – My guitar classes.Keep writing-nice post.

  4. nandini

    totally agreed..i think we all have a procrastinator inside us that resists us to complete our tasks. Be it writing or finishing a painting, we always like to delay things giving some lame excuses. Human beings have a basic nature to get bored of things pretty soon but people who have over powered and conquered this boredom and have been successful in finishing off their tasks (whatever they started) are the ones who have been very successful and have carved a niche for themselves. Imagine if edison would have given up the idea of lightening every household in the middle..what would have been the circumstances?Or what would have had happened if Charles Darwin gave up the idea towards the “evolution of life”? That tells us..to achieve something great we not only need to start well but to end even better.
    Great thought and post. *thumbs up* 🙂

  5. Eddie Garcia

    I have always believed that if you are going to start something, you need to finish it as well. It is not good enough to just try, but one needs to put forth an honest effort to do his/her best and be proud at completing the task at hand, no matter what it might be. I appreciate this mid provoking post and I will try to do better myself.

    Friends 4 Life!

  6. Gerardo

    A lot of people today don’t finish what they started. This could go as simple as a homework assignment to a real world situation such as a job task or even website and such. This does give encouragement to people though, great post!

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