What’s more important, the start of something or the finish?
Feb 18 Well, that famous cliché says “It’s not how you start, but how you FINISH that really matters.” The challenge for me is that I actually couldn’t disagree with that more. In my humble opinion, just like an “Honorable Mention” is designed to protect the self-esteem of those that almost did good enough to win the trophy or the award; I believe that quote is what we tell people in an effort to console them from the ugly reality of the time or the progress they’ve lost as a result of making bad choices or from getting a bad start. By the way, what exactly is an “Honorable Mention” anyway, and how come I didn’t get one after I lost my first business; I mean I gave it everything I had?
On a serious note, I was at a funeral not too long ago where sadly that is the exact point they were trying to celebrate in the face of a life that had a terrible start and was then largely squandered. While it was comforting to know that the person made some significant changes towards the very end of their life, I couldn’t help but walk out wondering what their life might have looked like if they only had a better start.
Here’s the truth. Most of the time, you will have more control over the start of something than you ever will over the finish and the fact remains that the start of something, which you CAN control, plays heavily on your finish. One of these days I’m going to show you the video we have of the best Motocross Champion that has ever lived (Ricky Carmichael), talking about the start of his very last race at the Motocross of Nations race. He openly tells almost 70,000 fans that we all got to see him at his very best, because he got a terrible start and had to fight his way all the way from dead last to 2nd place. He goes on to say that he was hoping to make it easy on himself by getting a GOOD START, but since it didn’t happen, he had to work extra hard and fight for it. Every podium finisher in our sport will have a comment about their start, because the starts are critical!
Having been a part of the #1 Technology Incubator in the country, (UCF Technology Incubator), where I got to be right next to about 50 other start-up or growth companies, I can tell you with absolute certainty that the finish of almost anything is completely unpredictable and as time goes on, circumstances and things outside of your control will begin to affect the finish. I honestly believe if you spend more time focusing on the thing you do have control over, the START, then you will increase your chances of finishing strong; it’s just a change of focus. Don’t just take Ricky Carmichael’s word for it; look at the entire world of professional racing and ask any champion how important the start is. Ask any successful entrepreneur how important the start-up stage is? Ask any salesperson how important the first impression is. Ask any personal trainer how important the warm-up, the start of an exercise, or the start of a program is? Most will tell you the start is at least 50% or more of their success. Sure, you can always come from behind and finish strong like Ricky did, but that should be your last resort or last chance and not the norm. I’m thoroughly convinced that you have a much better chance of succeeding in business and in life if you get a tremendous START at everything you do. If life is a daily race that you have chosen to run and you are running to win, shouldn’t you be focused on your starts? I’m still convinced that the control you and I think we have over most of our finishes is just an ILLUSION, that's why it's called KickSTART and not KickFINISH…you follow me?
View Printer Friendly Version
Reader Comments