Picture the last time that you were in the middle of a challenge. It could be a project at work, a competition, or a training session. Imagine where you were, what were you doing, and what thoughts were running through your mind as you pushed towards the finish line.
When you reflect on your mental approach to the home stretch, what comes to mind?
Give it all you have until the finish line?
Put in about 75% effort and work just hard enough to get the job done?
Realize you may not finish as strong as you want and mail in the home stretch?
Look at those around you and work as hard as they are working to blend in?
Make up an excuse as to why you can let up on the gas pedal and then justify it to yourself?
We all treat each challenge and opportunity differently. When we assess the trends or patterns over time, how would we describe ourselves in terms of our ability to finish?
Being able to finish strong is a skill that is highly sought after from coaches, employers, teachers, parents, and teammates. The ability put forth high levels of effort and finish strong regardless of the outcome is trainable. It it not reserved for the elite who are considered "closers" with ice in their veins. It's a choice and decision in how we want to be and act at any given moment.
Finishing strong starts with understanding that we dictate how to be in any environment and not allowing the moment and environment to impact how we think, feel, and perform. Once we have this understanding, we can choose where we place our effort, energy, and attention in the moment. While we may not always be in control of the outcome, we can choose how we want to be as we push towards the finish line.
2019 is almost over, and as this decade comes to a close, how do you want to finish? Is there an area of your health, fitness, mental well-being, or career you want to finish strong?
Over the next week, let's challenge ourselves to complete these two tasks -
1) Identify one area of your life where you want to finish 2019 strong over the next 29 days.
2) What choices can you make to put forth the effort, attention, and energy to finish strong (i.e. choose to move 3 days a week, choose to meditate for 5 minutes every day, choose to read for 10 minutes each day)?
Let's finish 2019 strong and set ourselves up for 2020!