Finishing Strong
As the fall activities will come to an end soon, I can’t help but think about finishing strong. It doesn’t matter if it is in the classroom, in business, or in sports, finishing strong is vital if you want to be successful. Anyone can start an activity, a project, a paper, or a sports season. Does everyone who starts finish strong? The simple answer is no, but why don’t people finish strong? I am sure that if I asked people if finishing strong was important, they would say yes. So why don’t people finish strong and what can be done to help make sure that we do finish strong?
I believe that the reason that people don’t finish strong is because it is hard, and because we have formed habits that deter us from finishing strong. It is pretty easy to start something. We jump in and off we go. We think we have a plan and know exactly how things will go. Then we start to hit bumps along the way. It could be an unforeseen circumstance, an injury, or an issue with motivation. This is the point where most people start to struggle. Things aren’t going how we thought they would, so it seems easier to quit than to strive on. We feel unequipped and do not want to continue. This is the point where having a Growth Mindset is essential. (A Growth Mindset is believing that you can get better through focused effort, and that making mistakes along the way is a part of the growth process.) Understanding that mistakes are a part of the learning process and without them, you aren’t growing sounds like an easy idea, but it is really hard to follow through.
Challenge:
No matter what you are working on. It might be for school, work, or recreation. Strive to have a Growth Mindset. Understand that mistakes are a part of the growth process. Learn from them and persist, and you will finish strong! Success is a product of focused effort over time and in order to get where you want to go, you must start with a growth mindset and finish strong.
Mr. Scism