Be Relentless

Let me talk to you about the thing you started and didn't finish.

You know the feeling. Starting is a rush. A book, an instrument, a business, a body. Everybody's excited, you're excited, people tell you it's great before you've done anything. And then the new wears off and what's left is the work. The grind. No applause. That's where most things die.

Here's the trap: the buzz and the congratulations are the icing, and you get them first. You get paid before you've earned it, and then there's nothing left to work for. But the icing was never the point. If somebody handed you a million dollars tomorrow, it would be nice. It wouldn't make you the one who built a million dollars. The building is what makes you. The sustained push is the reward, along with the thing at the end.

Everybody who ever finished anything could have quit at the boring part. The difference is that in his own head the goal wasn't up for discussion. That's the whole secret, and it's not a trick. If you find yourself arguing with yourself about whether to go today, whether to sit down and do it today, and coming up with good reasons, you've already lost. A creative man can always find a good reason not to. Those are lies you tell yourself, and you know it. You can at least be honest.

So this session does one thing: it takes the decision off the table. You decide once, before you start, and then there's nothing to negotiate. Not feeling like it stops being a reason.

Pick one project. Something you've started, or something you're about to start, that you want to see all the way through and do well. Something you'll be proud of. Just one. Hold it.