Pull the Trigger

I remember the day I realized I’d gotten in the habit of hesitating to pull the trigger.

 

 

Not on my spouse, or on the slow driver in front of me.  On my projects. 

 

I’d get whatever I was working on to a place of 60%, 80% or even 90% done, and then I’d stop working on it. I’d just walk away with the intention of finishing this later. And I was sure this was a smart move. Sometimes later came. But sometimes it didn’t.

 

Plans were made. Supplies were bought. But then the project wasn’t begun.  Or begun but not finished.

 

If I did manage to complete “production” on my work, I’d hesitate to pull the trigger on “shipping” it.  The “product” sat on my warehouse shelves instead of being sent to its intended customer.  Cards sat addressed and stamped but not mailed out. Writing pieces sat almost done, but not sent to editors.  

 

I realized this one day as I was online creating custom labels for some CDs I was making.  I spent an hour searching for a good label company to use, looking at the possible designs, choosing one, uploading my graphic to put on it, tweaking the colors on it, and then I final-proofed it and put it in my online shopping cart.  Then I quit. I didn’t place the order. Instead I saved it for later.

 

Twenty minutes later, while I was on to the next thing, I wondered, “Why didn’t I just finish that task while I was doing it?  It would’ve been so easy to just get it done.  Now I have to remember to go back and finish that.”

 

So why didn’t I pull the trigger? 

   Laziness?

      Procrastination?

           Perfectionism?

 

Those are always safe answers about why I'm hesitating. But as I thought it through, I realized there was something more to this trap I was in.

 

There had been a couple of times I gotten something almost done but waited to finish it. Then I got new information I didn’t have before, and I was glad I hadn’t yet pulled that trigger.  I found a better price elsewhere, or I learned that it won’t work like I thought it would. I read a bad review of it, or I dreamed up a different, better way to go about it.

 

The huge feeling of relief that I hadn’t yet pulled the trigger got associated with the act of stopping before finishing. Hesitating had brought me good results or saved me from bad ones.  So I started hesitating more often – just in case.
 

I’d reach almost done and start to wonder: Maybe I should sleep on this decision – think about it for a couple days. Is this the best possible deal? Am I going to regret this later? Have I spent too much time on this already today … maybe I should go work on something else for a while.

 

I lost sight of the reality that these incidents where waiting worked well were exceptions to the done-is-better-than-not-done rule.  Plus, I forgot how great “done” feels and how bad a gaggle of unfinished tasks feels.

 

Not pulling the trigger did bring me relief a couple of times, but it brought me frustration much of the rest of the time.  I had to work twice as hard to remember to go back and close the loop, finish the project, ship the product.  And I had to live with the consequences when I forgot.

Bottom Line:  
 

Better to pull the trigger while the metaphorical get-it-done gun is in your hand and aimed. If you wait until later you’ll have to find the gun, polish it up, reload it with motivation and re-aim it on your target. You don’t want or need to do all those extra steps.

 

Realizing that helped me a lot.  Maybe it will help someone else out there too. Today, I want you to pray, then pull the trigger on your projects. Unless of course, God tells you not to as you pray. Or, if you are aiming at your spouse or that slow driver in front of you.

 

 

Do you have a tendency to stop short of done?  ... Pull that trigger!