There was a Youth Conference at our church over the weekend, and Josh happened to see a quote that he liked and shared it with me. (It wasn’t a quote anyone said, but it was one that he saw framed up in one of the conference rooms):

“Stick to a task ’til it sticks to you… for beginners are many, but finishers few”.

Thomas S. Monson

We talked about it as we drove to a soccer game that night (the best time to talk to my boy is when driving to soccer!). We talked about for some starting is hard, for some, finishing is hard.

Sometimes getting started just requires us to set and keep tiny, tiny, tiny goals. Set a “Minimum baseline” – as one of my favourite authors/speakers/life coach Brooke Castillo says.  Her theory is to set a goal so small that you absolutely know you will get it done; you will honour that commitment to yourself. If you don’t, then maybe your goal is just too big. Achieving that goal may do nothing else but get you in the habit of doing something, and teaching yourself how to honour your commitments to yourself.

Then the next important concept is that of consistency. Just keep going. A tiny commitment, kept every single day, can lead to great results. Just like Gretchen Rubin’s “One Coin Problem”; when we consider our actions, often it is true that any one instance of an action is almost meaningless, yet at the same time, a sum of those actions is very meaningful. Whether we focus on the single coin, or the growing heap will shape our behaviour.

A small commitment, a small goal, a small action can propel us into a new direction. Then we must be consistent and just keep going. Day after day. Whether it feels like we are making steps forward or not. Just keep going. Keep facing forward  and go one step at a time. Be a finisher.