038: Do Things and Fail Often

We’ve all heard it - ‘Finish What You Started’. It can be applied to many things and in many ways. From the food on our plate - ‘finish your dinner or no dessert’. To sports and extracurricular activities during our school days - ‘you can only play on the team if you commit to the entire year’. To work - ‘don’t take on this project if you can’t guarantee finishing it’.

It seems like good advice, with a focus on commitment and getting the job done. In the long run though, I don’t believe it always serves us to look at things in this way. It can result in us dwelling on things we shouldn’t, and as a result, taking up mental space that could be better used elsewhere. I believe there is a better way forward that is not so black and white. 

I’ve talked about habits before, and in part, many of the habits we have were formed at a young age. I think the ‘finish what you started’ habit has its roots in the ‘finish your dinner or no dessert’ paradigm, or at least it does for me. Whatever the good intentions behind this train of thought, I think it sets us up with a poor understanding of where our values should be. The idea that the truly important part - the meal - is only worth something based on a reward we get at the end doesn’t serve us in the long run. There is also a whole physical health aspect to this one too - but that’s for another time :). 

When we devalue the process itself and instead place the value in the completion, it’s no wonder we prioritize ‘done’ over ‘doing’.

How many times have you started reading a book, got 100 pages in, and realized it wasn’t for you. Yet you still decided to struggle through and finish it anyways? ‘Finish what you started’. What if instead you set it aside and started reading that other book you have sitting there that you want to read? The one you're holding on to as a reward for finishing the first one. 

What’s that project you are working on right now? The one that is stressing you out, but you’ve decided it is of utmost importance. Take a step back and ask how important it really is. Oftentimes you’ll find some of these tasks and projects aren’t actually serving you. You’ve created the importance based on the time you’ve already put in. This is the sunken cost fallacy - the fact that you’ve already invested resources into something, does not justify putting more into it. You need to ask yourself if it’s worth putting ‘more’ time into it. You’re not getting the time back you already spent - don’t use that as the reason to keep going. This could lead to you taking up valuable time you could be spending on something else.

So where does this leave us? It leaves us in a place of recognizing this trend, acknowledging that we do it, and then deciding to do better. Instead of following our habit of ‘finishing what we started’, let’s instead finish what is important. When something excites you, run with it, see where it gets you, embrace the process. Don’t expect to have it all figured out from the start, or even expect to figure it out while you’re going. You may fail, but you may also discover something new. You may even create something you never would have before, because you're no longer focusing on things that have stopped inspiring you. Another thing you may find is that the projects you set aside gain new life after stepping away and working on other things for a while. So try new things, start new projects, do things and fail often. Become the best there is at failing, because from your failure you will find success. You will learn what works and what doesn’t, you will push your own boundaries. Knowing you can fail means you can put your full effort behind something, you don’t have to play it safe just to check the box off at the end. If you fail you can move onto the next project with the comfort in knowing you tried and failed with all you had. 


~ Steve