The Self-Reliant Entrepreneur

February 27Unfinished Business

It was plain that I had worked myself out, pumped myself dry. So I knocked off, and went to playing billiards for a change. I haven't had an idea or a fancy for two days, now—an excellent time to write to friends who have plenty of ideas and fancies of their own, and so will prefer the offerings of the heart before those of the head.

Mark Twain—Mark Twain's Letters (1917)

Here's a known fact about entrepreneurs: they are more commonly starters than finishers. The dream gives way to the work once begun, and that's where boredom begins and interest wanes.

And it often gets worse the closer to completion. How many things have you let languish in your life for want of the final 10 percent?

Twain admits later in this letter that “My interest in my work dies a sudden and violent death when the work is done.”

The self-reliant entrepreneur is a finisher.

Today, close something out that's been hanging around waiting for you to revisit it. Get it off your plate and you'll find yourself filling back up again with ideas and fancies of your own.

Challenge Question

1. What's one unfinished piece of business you should bring to a close?