Planning To Finish, by David Goldsmith

Do you ever start a project with the intent not to finish? Of course not….but we find ourselves, from time to time, not finishing. We start New Year’s resolutions and stop weeks into the program. We start business projects, from writing the new company manual to revamping productivity program initiatives, only to find that they too, are forgotten in time. How many of us have bought books that we intended to finish, only to find them months later, unread, on the table next to our beds? So the question becomes how do we finish what we start?

The answer lies in The GSR Cycle (Goal, Success, Reward). The GSR Cycle starts us off soundly, forces us to acknowledge our successes, and rewards us positively, which in turn, feeds the cycle and causes it to begin all over again.

Goal 1-5:

1. Start with a clear, time-bound objective.

2. Check your mindset. Do you believe in the project and do you have a strong desire to reap the benefits of its completion? Belief and desire make all the difference in the world.

3. Look at the project you intend to complete and "chunkize" it into small, reasonable tasks. Just like a drive from Chicago to New York. You will see signs for 80 miles and 60 miles to the next town. Each small step is one in the right direction to completion.

4. Post your schedule. Plans in books on shelves don’t work. They must be visible and alive. Make your plans exciting by keeping them in front of you. Time management systems try to offer this kind of strategy.

5. Make it realistic. Would it be more realistic to plan to sell $20,000 worth of equipment instead of $200,000? You can still shoot for the stars, but make sure that these goals are attainable by you. Again, you must believe.

Success 6-8

6. Keep track of your successes. Past accomplishments breed new successes by demonstrating to you that you can succeed. Like a resume, record the positives you accomplish.

7. Make a chart of the projects you want to complete (usually within a year.) The best offense to completing a project is to schedule its progress. There is nothing like the feeling of crossing off the results.

8. Going back to Step 2, we broke our large project into small projects. As each small project is completed, cross it off. To see yourself nearing the end of the major project is to see yourself finishing and achieving success.

Reward 9-10

9. Plan things you enjoy, too. Don’t just leave happiness to fate. As you complete milestones along the path of completion, reward yourself with enjoyable activities.

10. Going back to Step 7, reward yourself for each major project achieved. Chances are, if your projects are work related, you may be rewarded monetarily or be given special privileges. If they are personal, you may find your life changing in ways that you never thought imaginable.

When we consistently pile up uncompleted projects in our mental libraries, we come to accept "partially done" as acceptable finales to projects. The GSR Cycle provides a forward moving structure to projects, forcing us to abandon negative habits instead of positive projects.

There, in the act of completion, you might find a pot of gold….or the end to a great book.