100 Business Days Out: Day 99 - FINISH LINES .. (#2 Lesson)

Funny, how it is for me when I come to the end of anything, I always feel like the finish line is the biggest let down vs. the moment of peaking. I am amazed by athletes who can so tune their bodies and their attitudes to be ready for just that moment of competition. We just finished seeing that in the Summer Olympic Games. Imagining the readiness of four years of hard work either being completed or shattered within a two-week period is hard for me to fathom. I went into this 100 Business Days Out expecting to have peaked right about now. For me the peak would be that I would have figured out everything that needed to be figured out, done what needed to have been done, worked through whatever emotions were to be worked through, etc. For the most part, the only part I really got done was to work through the emotions thing. I can say that I have successfully worked through these and feel pretty comfortable now in my own skin so that I can flex and move in a number of directions without the worry of my self-esteem cracking. What finally got me over that finish line was the realization that everyone wants to be in this position and I just got to it earlier than most and that I shouldn't feel guilty or weird about it. And no, I am not wasting my potential by taking the needed time to figure out what it is I should do next. That said, I do believe that I (nor anyone) should just fold up their talents and take them to the beach. Talents are different than potential. Talents can go away if not used and exercised. It's a whole different topic (and one I will write on soon in another forum) but an important one to recognize in life. But for me, right now, I am good with where I am mentally. So, the learning of the finish line is one that I can see and understand more clearly now than before. Arbitrary finish lines that we create in life are just that, they are arbitrary. But, I, and many others I know make these finish lines seem so real that when we complete them we are let down because we have given so much to get to one place not recognizing that there is another mile beyond that has to be traveled. And worse yet, we build up these finish lines to be so monumental that if we miss them, we are devastated by the incompleteness and we struggle to get back up and try again. I have been there myself and I have seen way too many people in their work lives reach for these artificial finish lines whether it be promotions, new jobs, financial attainments, or retirement dates. Each time, if a year, month, week or even a day off from what was expected there is a sense of failure that exceeds the accomplishment of how far they have come or the recognition of how close they are to achievement. For me, I have come to realize that there are no finish lines. All things I strive for and goals I set are just mile markers along the way, along the path to something bigger in my life that I may or may not ever know what it is. None of this means that I will stop setting goals and objectives (this is way too ingrained in me to stop now) but it does mean that I will think differently about the definition of finish lines going forward. If I can remove the need to create these finish lines within my life and instead move forward in a steady progress, I believe I will be happier because of this lesson learned.