Finishers Seek Stress

The great Seth Godin wrote a post about stress the other day. He inspires me even in his "worth thinking about" moments.

HERE is the post entitled Stressed.

This is great stuff to think about if you are a marketer ... what is the language we use and how does it color our approach to what we do.

I also think that Seth's post is very applicable in the Finisher's Qualities arena...

Great Finishers seek out stress. If you can't turn stress to your advantage...if you can't take the stress that will come when you "put yourself out there" or when you find yourself in a stressful situation... then you will not finish.

The movie "Miracle" was on this weekend...it is the story of one of the great jobs of Finishing in sports history.

The 1980 USA men's hockey team grew and learned how to finish.

10 days before they defeated the USSR 4 to 3...they had lost to them 10 - 3.

Herb Brooks had put his team into a very stressful situation BEFORE the Olympics started so that when the tournament started...they had already gone through it.

Great Finishers seek out stress, fail, and then seek it out some more.

Thank you Seth for helping me with my blog this morning! I was stressed about what I was going to write about!

Start Well to Finish Great

Great Finishers don't learn how to finish by accident.

Sure, we all understand that (performance enhancing chemistry aside) our sports heroes get great because of hard work over a period of time.

But how many times do you hear the story of a sports figure who is full of talent and never realizes their "potential," or they never achieve their big goals..whatever those may be?

How many times do you hear a nutty sports commentator say, "Well, the wildcats just wanted it more."

Ummm...no...the other team "wanted" it just as much, and god was just as much on the other team's side as she was yours...

No, I think the difference between finishing well and not quite getting there is how you START.

Over the years, Seth Godin has talked about doing the hard work early so that your project finishes well. This week his take on this subject is contained in a post called "Soggy"

How do you start well? I believe that you start well when you know worry about the details when others say, "let's just get started and then we'll figure that other stuff out later."

I am usually that guy! So, my lesson to myself this week is:

Finishers Get the Hard Stuff Done First.

The Finisher's Blog

Starting Fast and Figuring Out the Finish

I started writing blogs several years ago, but never worked that hard to define my niche, differentiate my content, or plan my approach.

Then I decided to blog about something that I struggle with personally and in my business and to make this blog an exploration of those failings as well as a series of observations about people I think are great finishers.

Here are some Finisher Qualities I have identified and written about, along with the link to my posts from the past year.

Here is my first post on the subject - The Finisher's Blog

The Qualities of a Great Finisher:

Accountable to themselves - Roger Federer-Model Finisher

"Finish" interruptions: The Productivity Formula

Do NOT deal try to motivate with information: What Does "I Don't Know" Really Mean?

Do Not seek the path of least resistance: Finisher's Never Weaken

Know When to Focus...and When to Drift: Knowing When To Focus

See the "Shot" Early: Finishing When You Are Busy

Never quits...even when everything is going badly: Finishing and Not Finishing

Think First...Then Act Decisively: Compost and Finishing

Compost and Finishing

This weekend I decided to build a compost container and it taught me something about Finishing.

Problem:
I have a number of large trees in my yard and I am tired of bagging up the leaves and sending them off to the landfill.

Solution:
Build a compost container to turn the leaves into supercharged compost for the extensive garden that is now in the works.

Lesson - In order to finish well you have to learn to walk the fine line between thinking and doing.

I write this "Finisher's Blog" because I am often chastised for my lack of finishing. So, I was determined to be a doer this weekend and to actually finish the compost handler. No such luck.

Weekend laziness + fun kid-time + cold temperatures kept me inside too long. So, I finally went outside to get started...as always determined to finish strong.

I started building without thinking enough about what and how, etc.

Normally, I spend too much time thinking and planning and thinking some more before I actually DO anything. This time, I launched into action without the thinking...and it slowed me down later.

Lesson Learned...think first...then act...but don't think too much.

Finisher's Quality: Knowing When to Focus

Last night I was playing in my weekly tennis league. It is a double's league where you play 35 minutes with each player on the court. The player with the most games won moves up the ladder, the player with the least number of games won moves down.

I played so well for the first two rounds, and I didn't play well in the third. Now, this isn't that interesting to anyone, except that it is a great illustration of this week's idea.

Finisher's Quality: Know When to Focus. Know when to drift.

The last round I was playing with the best player on the court and I relaxed. The previous two rounds, I knew I would have to be at my best to keep from losing badly to the stronger player. Then, when I got my turn with the better player...I didn't mean to, but I stopped focusing on my own game.

You have seen this a hundred times in every sport on the planet. An individual has the focus to get ahead, but doesn't have the ability to close it out.

This does not just apply to sales people. I bet you can come up with a situation when you were focused...focused...focused...on a big goal. Then, once the goal is within sight, within reach...you relax.

"Well, I can get there even if I only..."

That is the tank. Instead of finishing...you are going into the tank.

I am convinced that I was playing the best tennis on the court last night...but I am the one going down the ladder. I didn't finish the night. I drifted when I should have focused. For two sets I played the ball and I simply concentrated on playing the point, not the person across from me. Then, I let the thoughts of who I was playing with and against get me off course.

Once you wander off that course, it takes some time to get the focus back. Next week I will explore how great finishers get their focus back.

If anyone has any ideas, examples, tricks about this...please let me know.