Friday, December 3, 2010

Crossing the Finish Line

A while back, Roger Wilson wrote a blurb describing what people can do when they set their minds to a goal, and persevere to work towards that goal. He entitled it "Crossing the Finish Line." Enjoy.


Crossing the Finish Line (by Roger Wilson)
In life situations, many believe that the first step is always the hardest, and in some cases that would be true, such as admitting your fault, or admitting you have an addiction problem. However, when it comes to achieving a goal or dream, I can tell you that the hardest part is actually finishing something you’ve committed to. When most people make a New Year’s Resolution, it’s easy to say what you plan to do at the beginning. And for maybe the first two months, you actually do stick to that plan. You suddenly skip a week thinking it’ll be done next week. Then the next week passes and situations come up, making you “too busy” to continue that plan. And before you know it, your promise to that resolution has sailed.

As a first-time author, many times I struggled to continue writing Phantom Four: Children of the Grave. Many a time I was exhausted from work. Other times I caught what’s commonly known as “Writer’s Block.” Ideas just weren’t coming for awhile, and part of me wanted to give up. Do you know what that part of me was? It’s that negative part in every person that tells them that they can’t finish what they started. That side of you will come up with all kinds of excuses to quit, such as, “You’ve done enough. You made your point.” Or “What the heck were you thinking? You can’t do this!” The true victory is in proving your negative side (and any naysayers) wrong.

The greatest things in life are won after a hard-fought battle, but are worth fighting for. Most of you will at some point feel intimidated, have the fear of failure, or the thought that you were way over your head. You must ignore that fear and do anything you can to push forward. It takes ambition to start a goal, but it takes willpower to see it through to the end. Think of the sense of accomplishment that you’ll gain. Think of a once overweight person who is now in the best shape of their life; a once struggling student now graduating college with a degree; a man who made a fool of himself to win a lady’s heart, now with his dream girl in his arms; a tiring athlete who didn’t win the race, but persevered and crossed the finish line. By ignoring your negative side, you’ve beaten your greatest enemy - yourself. That is an accomplishment in itself.

When I started writing Phantom Four, I was excited. But when I finished it and believed it could not be any better, I was truly proud of myself that I stayed the course and allowed nothing to stop me – not even myself. That’s the lesson I wanted to give to all aspiring authors and people in general: Finish what you start. Don’t give up, and stay working towards that goal. It will ultimately show in your results.

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