The end is as important as the beginning.
How many aspiring writers sat down at their laptop with high hopes and great ideas only to have a half-finished manuscript? Quite a few. The difference between getting published and getting passed over is often not a matter of writing ability. It’s a matter of finishing ability.
Half-baked ideas, half-read books.
Many of us pay careful attention to how we start. We labor over every detail. We try harder, work longer.
Getting started is important, but only if it leads to finishing well. If the goal is only to get started, more people would be successful. More marriages would last. More ideas would be rewarded.
But we know … getting started is one thing; finishing is another. And how we finish matters.
If a project or relationship or dream is coming to an end, end well. What people most often remember is not the beginning but the ending. It’s the final scene that brings all the pieces together or the final verse that rises with emotion.
If you’re nearing the end and are tempted to take a short cut or fizzle out altogether, let me encourage you to choose the right, noble, honorable way to end. You won’t regret it.