Ensuring You Cross the Finish Line
At least every grown adult can tell you a story of when they finished short. This can be a sports story, a work example, or even a school story. What typically happens is we think the job is done or close enough to being done and we move on to what is next. However, when we don’t take the extra moment to ensure everything is done properly, disaster can strike.
Sports
Everyone has seen at least one sports play where an athlete drops the ball because they think they have scored or because they believe the play is over; usually when this happens disaster strikes. Points are typically taken away and a lot of the time possession of the ball is lost. The athlete who makes the mistake is embarrassed by the moment and learns from their mistake; however, often others repeat the mistake at a later time. Why does this happen, especially at the professional level? The answer is simple; people get too confident too early and lose focus. Media coverage of sports emphasize and talks a lot about celebrations and athletes think about how to create a unique scoring celebration before they score. Losing focus in sports can have costly results so make sure you take the extra few minutes to actually cross the goal line before you celebrate. Learn from the many that have made this mistake in the past and ensure you complete the action of scoring entirely and not lose momentum because you see the goal line.
Group Projects
How many people can tell a story about a group project at school or work that didn’t go according to plan? Most of us have one such story, many people will blame the bad results on someone else not holding their own but that, is just an excuse. Part of being a team is working together and not just completing a portion of the job independently. You can do your work perfectly but if you ignore what your teammates are doing, the project can end poorly. You shouldn’t do some else’s work but you should be a support system and motivator for your peers. In addition, you should make sure every member of the team completely reviews the entire project to ensure no one else has made a mistake. What do you do if someone else on the team is not contributing? A lot of the time you can calmly communicate your concerns with this person individually or with the entire team. If that still does not help it might be time to ask the teacher or supervisor to remove the person from the team. The key is that you are constantly involved and communicating with each other. So don’t just be involved during one step of the project. Have some involvement throughout to ensure it gets done to competition.
A Work Presentation
What happens when you create an entire presentation but do not practice presenting it? It usually does not go as well as it should because you skipped a key step. Practice does make perfect. Part of making a presentation is doing the research, making presentation materials, and ensuring you have all the tools to make the presentation. The part that most commonly gets forgotten about is practicing what you are going to say. A lot of people claim to not need practice but how could they not? If the presentation is new, no one has ever made it before. So do not assume your job is over with once the presentation is compiled. Take the time in an empty conference room or even a room full of peers to do a dry run. Get up and talk through the entire presentation. If you do, odds are you will come across one mistake that can be corrected to make the presentation better. Finally by practicing you will have more confidence and this will make a huge difference on how the information is perceived.
Home Repairs
How many people do you know who will tighten down a screw or glue something back into place and assume something is repaired? These solutions might work for the short term, but have you really solved the core root of the issue? Most of the time you have not, and additional repairs may be required. So how to do you a better job? The answer is quite simple. Find the root cause of the issue and fix it completely. This might mean replacing a screw instead of tightening one down. It could also mean replacing an entire piece of furniture. Every problem is different and so is every solution. What is important is you identify that really needs to happen and address that instead of taking the cheap and quick solution. These might be the easy road but it could lead to more headaches, repairs, and costs in the future. Do it right the first time and check the problem off the list for good.
No matter what you are doing finishing is crucial. You must ensure you cross the line and score, or identify the core issue and fix it, or proofread someone else’s work. Do not let work go to waste by taking short cuts. Do not celebrate success too early or you will make mistakes. Work every job to completion every time and you will have a real reason to celebrate and will feel like a winner every time.
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