The Simple System I Use to Finish What I Start

(Transcript edited for clarity.)

Hi, I'm Wes. Welcome to The Simple System I Use to Finish What I Start.

I'm going to share with you exactly what I've learned through years of starts and stops, successes and failures, about what I need to do to actually finish the projects and important things that I start.

Hopefully some of this can help you. Maybe you'll recognize some of your own things that you want to work on in what I've learned and done, and why I've come to this simple system that I use to finish what I start.

Starting something is often really exciting.

I get all excited. I have a business idea - and it's usually a business idea, so that's what we're going to go with. But this works in other areas of life too, and it has in mine.

I'll have this great business idea. I'll start making notes and gathering information. I'm like, "This is a great idea. This is exciting." So I'll jump right in and get started.

Then I would lose momentum or lose steam. I'd stay with it strong for the first week or two, then maybe I'd have some complications or things wouldn't be going exactly like I planned them out, and I'd lose that momentum.

So often the excitement I felt from starting, building, or creating a business would start going away or waning.

I eventually learned how to put things into systems so I didn't have to rely on that beginning excitement to keep going on my important goals.

Starting is exciting, but finishing is what creates results.

I can get a business idea, get all excited, get started, and be rolling along. But if I never finish it, there are no results. There's just another failure or learning experience.

Remember, starting can be exciting, but finishing is where the results come from.

The secret isn't more discipline.

I fell into this trap for years, so I know exactly how this is. I would get started, be excited, and be moving along. Then I'd stop being so excited and stop getting the important things done.

I often thought, "I need more discipline. I'm not strong enough."

Well, that's not what I needed. Maybe that's what you need, but I doubt it.

Discipline is almost never my problem. My problem was that I didn't know how to create systems to implement what I needed to do.

Now I've learned that if I have a great business idea, write out my notes, and gather my information, what I have to do next is figure out which of the systems I use I can plug this into so I continue to make progress and get the results I'm looking for.

Remember, finishing creates the results.

So basically, I'm planning before I start: How am I going to finish this?

I've started plenty of projects with enthusiasm in my life. But I finish more today because I use a simple process instead of depending on excitement or motivation.

I'm going to share that simple process with you here.

Once you hear it, you're going to wonder why you haven't used this more, just like I did when I finally figured it out.

This wasn't the best system ever, some huge secret that only the inner circle gets. It was something I had to learn on my own that I should have been using the whole time.

So when I tell you what this simple system is, don't make the mistake of missing how valuable it is just because it sounds simple.

It's not valuable because I'm telling you. It's valuable because it works. I've seen it work with others, and I've learned that it works for me too.

Here's the simple system: Break large projects or goals down into small milestones. Focus on the very first step.

Do it today.

Then focus on the very next step and do it. Keep doing this every day until you stack up enough of these small, focused wins that you reach the end goal, which is where you get the benefit - the results.

We're chasing the results.

How do you get to big results and big goals? You break it down, figure out what you need to do, then break that down into very small steps.

You do each step, then the next step, and you consistently do the next small step.

I often call it stacking wins. After you stack enough of these little wins, you look back and think, "Wow, I've made huge progress."

If you keep doing this long enough, while learning, adjusting, and evaluating as you go, you end up at the big result or big goal you started toward.

Again, it's very simple. Don't miss the importance and value of this just because it sounds simple.

Let me give you an example.

When I write a book now, I do it differently from the way I used to.

I used to think about the whole thing. In my mind, it was, "I've got to have this whole thing in my mind and I've got to write 20 chapters," and it was huge.

I would often get started with excitement. Remember, starting is exciting, but finishing creates the results.

You can start all the books you want, but if you never finish one and get it out there, no one's ever going to read it and you're never going to make any money from it.

The result is finishing the book.

But when you start with excitement, go really fast for a week or two, and then the excitement goes away, where are you?

So often, that's how books never get finished. The excitement helps us start and helps us for a little while, but once the excitement is gone, the book never gets finished.

Here's what I do now.

If I need 20 chapters, I write out the titles for the 20 chapters.

Then the goal becomes not finish the book. The goal becomes finish chapter one.

That's all I focus on: finish chapter one.

If I can't get chapter one done in one day, then the goal becomes get the first page of chapter one done today.

It depends on the size of the book, but to me a page is 500 words. Most books only have 200 to 300 words on a page, but to me it's 500 words.

So the goal becomes write 500 words on chapter one today.

Tomorrow's goal becomes write the next 500 words for chapter one, then the next day, etc.

After enough days of that minimum progress - 500 words - chapter one is done.

Okay, that's great. What's the next thing? Let's follow my simple system.

After chapter one is done, what's next? Chapter two.

I'm not thinking about chapter 20 when I'm writing chapter one anymore.

I know I've got everything broken down and I need 20 chapters done to finish the book. But the process now is not write 20 chapters. It's write chapter one.

As soon as chapter one is done, the process immediately becomes finish chapter two.

That's how you write the book. That's how you get finished with the book. That's how you reach the result you want: the finished book.

Think about that with anything you're trying to get done, want to get done, or any big goal you have in your life.

What's my simple system? Break it down.

I like to break it down to the day. Everything is broken down to the day.

If I'm writing a short book with 20 chapters, I can literally write one chapter every day because I've practiced that.

Not because I'm a great writer or anything like that, but I know from experience that if I sit down and focus, I can write one chapter a day.

So I've broken my 20-chapter book into 20 days of writing.

Now, that's not the finished product.

It still has to be edited. I've got to go back through it, etc. So don't get me wrong. It's not super easy, and it's not 20 days and the book is done.

But the writing of the first draft - let's call it the rough draft - can be broken down that way.

If it's a short book with 20 short chapters, I can write a chapter a day.

Therefore, my daily goal is not finish the book. My daily goal is write chapter one.

What's Tuesday's goal? Write chapter two, etc.

Now break whatever you're working on down the exact same way.

The system sounds simple, but if you're consistently doing one day, one win, one thing every day, you know what happens?

In 20 days, I've got the rough draft done if I didn't skip a day.

Let's say I only work five days a week on the book instead of seven. Then in four weeks, I've got the 20-chapter rough draft done by doing one a day.

That's all you've got to do.

That's my challenge to you.

Whatever you're working on, whatever you want to do, or whatever your next big goal is if you're not working on one, break it down and start taking action.

Big accomplishments are usually lots of small accomplishments put together.

You're stacking wins.

Finishing is a skill supported by systems.

What did I do? I put it into a system that I use.

It works with my time management system that I actually use. You can look that video up.

All my systems fit together.

It took me my whole life so far to create all these systems, but these systems all work together.

I plug my goals into these systems so that the progress from the idea to the finished product is almost automatic.

Remember, that's what you're shooting for.

Use this simple system that I use to finish what I start, and finish more of your important goals instead of only starting them.

I'm Wes. This is Your Life Systems.

Please subscribe. Thanks for being here.

What's Next?

·        Choose one important project or goal you want to finish.

·        Define what the finished result actually looks like.

·        Break the project into clear milestones.

·        Reduce the first milestone until you have one action you can complete today.

·        Finish today's step, then define the next one.

·        Keep stacking small wins until the finished result exists.

If you found this helpful:

• Download the free Small Wins Success System Worksheet.

• Subscribe on YouTube for new videos each week.

• Explore more articles and videos from Your Life Systems.