Stop Starting, Start Finishing: How to Actually Complete Your Goals This Year

Happy New Year, my friend.

I’m glad you’re still tagging along with me on this journey.

I want to start the year with a hard, but honest truth. My hope is that it gives you exactly what you need to make the most of this new season.

“I’m starting a _______ this year.”

How many times have we heard that before?

At the beginning of the year, everyone suddenly feels a burst of inspiration and passion to do more and become more.

And there’s nothing wrong with that.

But imagine this.

Your dream is to build a house.

So you draw up the blueprint. You buy the land. You gather the materials. You lay the foundation, and things are finally starting to take shape.

But then, in the middle of building the house, you get inspired to build an apartment complex.

So you pause the house.

You shift your focus. New plans. New ideas. New excitement.

Then, while you’re building the apartment complex, you get inspired to start a business.

So you pause the complex.

New vision. New strategy. New passion.

But here’s the problem.
You still don’t have a house.

You have a foundation here.
Half-built walls over there.
An idea on paper somewhere else.

Everything is started, but nothing is finished.

And that’s how a lot of us treat our dreams.

We confuse inspiration with progress.
We mistake starting for completing.

Hear me out. You’re good at starting things, but what have you actually finished?

It’s not that you lack ideas.
You lack execution and follow-through.

You get stuck because you’re focused on the outcome, but you’re unwilling to commit to the process.

You chase the next idea, the next calling, the next “God put this on my heart” moment, without stewarding what He already gave you to finish.

Vision without follow-through leaves you surrounded by construction zones, but with nowhere to live.

And honestly, we don’t care about the new thing you post about every week on Facebook.

Because once the hype fades, you move on without ever finishing what you first announced.

A lot of people crave attention, so they put on a facade that they’re more than who they really are.

Almost like they’re trying to prove a point.

It becomes an obsession with wanting to seem great, while not producing greatness at all.

Sometimes, this points to a lack of understanding purpose.

There’s a saying about being a jack of all trades, but a master of none.

Some people want their hands in everything, while nothing takes root long enough to grow.

They plant a seed here, a seed there, but there’s no water, no sunlight, no consistency for anything to bloom into something meaningful.

This year, choose to master one thing well.

Yes, you said you wanted to write a song, start a business, buy the car, read 12 books, whatever the case may be.

Focus on one thing you’ll be intentional about completing.

You don’t need 20 million goals on your list this year.

It’s okay to have one main goal you want to accomplish.

Finish the thing you already told people you were starting.

This can be another year of starting things, or it can be the year you finally finish something.

Before you start something new, ask yourself what you’re avoiding finishing.

The choice is yours.