*Excerpted from Chapter 6 of How to Finish Everything You Start: Understanding the Causes of the Unfinished Epidemic, Its Cures, and When Choosing Not to Finish Is Okay (published by Hannacroix Creek Books).

Here’s the F-I-N-I-S-H acronym and what it stands for:

F = Focus on one priority task.

I =  Ignore interruptions or distractions.

N = Now is the time, not later or tomorrow.

I =  Initiate and innovate so you keep going.

S = Stay the course however tough it gets.

H = Hail finishing by celebrating your accomplishment.

In How to Finish Everything You Start there is a chapter on how to apply the F-I-N-I-S-H system to that book that you still need to complete. There is also another chapter, Chapter 12,  about when it’s okay to leave something unfinished, but for the “right” reasons.

Jan Yager, Ph.D. is a sociologist/victimologist, coach, freelance writer, and publisher in Stamford, Connecticut, whose 50-plus award winning books, with one or more titles translated into 35 languages, include 365 Daily Affirmations for Happiness, Productive Relationships, When Friendship Hurts, Looking Backward, Going Forward: Reflections on a Writer’s Life, Work Less, Do More, and more. Follow Jan’s tweets at @drajnyager. For more information, go to https://www.drjanyager.com