Finish: Give Yourself the Gift of Done

Year after year, readers pulled me aside at events and said, "I've never_x000D_ had a problem starting. I've started a million things, but I never _x000D_ finish them. Why can't I finish?
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_x000D_ According to studies, 92 percent of New Year's _x000D_ resolutions fail. You've practically got a better shot at getting into _x000D_ Juilliard to become a ballerina than you do at finishing your goals. For_x000D_ years, I thought my problem was that I didn't try hard enough. So I _x000D_ started getting up earlier. I drank enough energy drinks to kill a _x000D_ horse. I hired a life coach and ate more superfoods. Nothing worked, _x000D_ although I did develop a pretty nice eyelid tremor from all the _x000D_ caffeine. It was like my eye was waving at you, very, very quickly. _x000D_ Then, while leading a thirty-day online course to help people work on _x000D_ their goals, I learned something surprising: The most effective _x000D_ exercises were not those that pushed people to work harder. The ones _x000D_ that got people to the finish line did just the opposite-- they took the_x000D_ pressure off. Why? Because the sneakiest obstacle to meeting your _x000D_ goals is not laziness, but perfectionism. We're our own worst critics, _x000D_ and if it looks like we're not going to do something right, we prefer _x000D_ not to do it at all. That's why we're most likely to quit on day two, _x000D_ "the day after perfect"--when our results almost always underper-form _x000D_ our aspirations. The strategies in this book are counterintuitive and _x000D_ might feel like cheating. But they're based on studies conducted by a _x000D_ university researcher with hundreds of participants. You might not guess_x000D_ that having more fun, eliminating your secret rules, and choosing _x000D_ something to bomb intentionally works. But the data says otherwise. _x000D_ People who have fun are 43 percent more successful! Imagine if your _x000D_ diet, guitar playing, or small business was 43 percent more suc-cessful _x000D_ just by following a few simple principles. If you're tired of being a _x000D_ chronic starter and want to become a consistent finisher, you have two _x000D_ options: You can continue to beat yourself up and try harder, since this_x000D_ time that will work. Or you can give yourself the gift of done.