There is some dispute where this phrase originated – though the favourite is from the world of motor racing. The F1 team may be gung-ho about winning the Grand Prix – but first they must get everything right to complete the race. Otherwise they have no chance of winning. The same principle applies to doing fine work or achieving your goals in life. So let’s explore how to get into the habit of being a good finisher. (You can also clarify your successful pattern for finishing in the companion piece called 3 tips for the art of finishing.)

1) You can clarify what you want to finish in your life.

Let’s start with the big picture. What do you want to finish in your life? You may say, for example: “I want to have given my children a great start in life; to have travelled to South America; to have been a great partner for my spouse.” Why clarify these long-term aims? It develops the discipline of focusing on the end-goals – the ‘What’. You can then channel your energy towards achieving these aims. This enables you to get into the habit of finishing both the small and big things in life.

“I did a similar exercise to this one 10 years ago which clarified my priorities,” said one person. “The exercise was actually called Two years to live. It invited me to describe what I would do if I only had that time remaining. Caring for my family came first, but then it highlighted several other goals. One was to complete a book that I had spent ages planning to write. Seeing this written in black and white increased my sense of urgency. Soon afterwards I began working on the book and went on to self-publish it on the internet.”

Hopefully you have more than two years to live, but it can still be useful to clarify what you want to complete. The following exercise invites you to do two things. First, to describe what you want to finish. Second, to describe the specific things you can do in the next month towards achieving those goals. Try completing the following sentences.

The specific things I want to finish in my life are:

*

*

*

The specific things I can do in the next
month toward achieving these goals are:

*

*

*

2) You can clarify what you want to finish in the next month.

Let’s narrow the scope. You have clarified several life goals and the steps you can take towards these in the next four week. Looking at your personal and professional life, what other things do you want to finish in the next month? You may want to complete a specific work project; hit your financial targets; conduct several performance management sessions; hold a tough but necessary conversation with a difficult team member; return your tax returns; clear-out the garage; fulfil your promise of taking your children to a football match or whatever. Try completing the following sentence.

The specific things I want to finish in the next month are:

*

*

*

3) You can get into the habit of finishing things each day.

Good finishers are compulsive list-makers. They frequently take time-out out to list what they must do the next day and week. List-making is only the start, of course, because the words must be translated into action. Finishers recognise their ‘prime times’ – the times of the day when they have most energy. Organising their day to protect and capitalise on these times, they complete as many of the key tasks as possible. Building-in time for rest and recovery, they may also use the low-energy times for doing grunt work. Looking back at the end of the day, they reflect on: a) The things I have finished today: b) The things I need to finish tomorrow. Making a fresh list, they repeat the process – and continue the habit of being good finishers. You will, of course, follow this path in your own way. Try completing the following sentence.

The specific things I can do to get into the
habit of finishing things each day are:

*

*

*

“In order to finish first, first you have to finish,” is a crucial principle. It has implications far beyond preparing a Grand Prix car or training for a tilt at the Gold Medal. It is about getting into the habit of completing fine work. You are then more likely to complete what you were meant to finish in life.

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