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Beyond the Start

man on running field

Have you ever noticed how couples seem to focus more on a wedding than they do on the marriage? It’s as if they looked at their wedding day as the finish line and not the starting gun (Although some couples, shortly after being married, wish they had a gun ... but I digress) And it’s not just marriages; kids celebrate being accepted into college as if that is the accomplishment. And how about serial entrepreneurs? These are guys who start up a new business every few months. And there’s a lot of people who “start” working out every January and then “donate” a nice monthly fee to support the gym’s activities in their absence from February on.

We are a society that is all about the start. We start going to college, we start businesses and we start diets. We want our kids to have a good “start,” but seem to be far less concerned about where they end up. We are great about getting started. We are terrible at finishing.

 Hospitals don’t typically seek out doctors who started medical school. They kinda prefer the ones who actually finished. I know people who start dozens of new diets every year but are still overweight because each new diet usually gets torpedoed by the following weekend. And the serial entrepreneur – don’t you think that they would stick with their original business if it really was going well? But no, they start new ones as the old ones die off, more like a serial killer of business ideas than a serial entrepreneur.

Yes, starting something new can be difficult. And there is certainly value in a good start. But we must not overemphasize a start or celebrate it too much. No one get’s a ribbon for starting a marathon (it’s 2020, maybe they do now – but they shouldn’t). There are plenty of starters out there; be a finisher. Celebrate endurance and perseverance. Run the race to finish strong, not merely to start well. Life celebrates the finishers.

 

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