"To start and not finish is worse than not starting at all." It’s a saying that I came up with a few months ago to motivate myself to finish things; at the time it was in relation to a project I’d started almost a year ago to the day, but after writing those few words down on paper they’ve served me far beyond my expectations.

If you’re like me you’re full of ideas, the world is a giant oyster just dying to be taken on and whilst you have that fleeting moment of passion; that wonderment of change you could inflict upon everyone there seems nothing less important in the world. Yet as time moves by the idea and your work begins to fade, excuses are made to your own conscience and before you know it the only change you’ve made is the calendar on the wall as another year has passed by, wasted to the grinding wheel of life. That once possessed feeling of passion that consumed you at conception has blown away like the seeds of a thistle in the breeze.

For me I quite often go beyond the birth of an idea and follow it through infancy, the excitement of something new in my life, a challenge that might require research or the learning of a new skill fuel the desire to continue in a new found quest. It’s once foundations are laid and challenge becomes chore that a point far too common tips in favour of a new TV show or the latest xbox game, and with that begins the rapid decline in will. From time to time I may revive the project in small spurts but it’s never the same commitment I showed in the beginning, it’s lost that shiny-new-idea-lustre and pretty soon it will be replaced with the next big idea or just shear complacency with the world and current life situation.

Sometimes I think I’m actually scared of going through with anything from start to finish, which is odd because you would think to create, or rather to complete a creation could bring such joy, yet I see it as fear. Is it the fear of rejection? Will no one appreciate the effort, will I be mocked or worse yet, criticised? If only we could outsource our minds in the same way corporations do their dirty work of call centre duties. Let’s be honest though, that’s just being lazy, and would you really be willing to watch someone turn your idea into a reality and take the credit? I know I wouldn’t.

So how do you maintain that original feeling of passion, that yearning desire to make a difference? To be honest I don’t think there is a definitive answer that can encompass everyone. In-fact I don’t think there’s even one answer that works in every situation, but I do believe it has a lot to do with inspiration. To find one’s muse in their work is a driving force beyond comprehension. Think of what you’re doing and who it will impact, how it may help someone be it yourself or others and how that will make you feel. Regardless of your project there will always be someone to benefit from its outcome and will appreciate the effort and dedication you’ve shown to accomplish its conclusion. Talk to people about it, find someone that understands you and confide in them. There’s nothing more inspirational than sharing your goals with someone you care about and having them reciprocate your passion to achieve.

I guess when it all comes down to it I’m writing this as elaboration on my own quote as further inspiration to myself. I don’t want to wake up in twenty years time and look back thinking I’d been too lazy to have at least tried, wondering where my life had gone and what could have been had I just finished off what I’d started. It’s always easier to make excuses and lay blame but really you only have yourself to scold. So if you’ve started on something, be it a tree-house for your kids, a commitment to that special person in your life or a new satellite launching mechanism, see it through, contribute! If you get halfway, or even ninety percent of the way and stop you may as well have not started in the first place because… “To start and not finish is worse than not starting at all.”