Don`t aim for the finish line

We try to achieve a goal. Hurrying to reach a certain milestone. Furiously working to meet the deadline. There are specific and distinct finish lines we set (or are set by others). There are also some artificial finish lines we often set, like "the end of the year" or "when I finish my studies" or "when I retire". The problem with all these finish lines is that we do not see beyond them. We are absolutely focused on them only, and such perspective can be exhausting, can put too much pressure on us, can possibly even distract us in a certain sense.

Let me illustrate this with an example from sports. (I am sure you can find many more similar stories.) One of our best national skiers of the past, Bojan Krizaj, was on his way to win an important slalom race. He did everything perfectly, yet there was that last turn at the last gate before the finish line. He hit it with the right ski, crashed, and his body, lying in the show, stopped almost at the finish line. If his hand had been a bit longer, he could have touched the colored finish line and break the light?beam?to stop the stopwatch. Yet it did not happen. While racing, evidently he was way too focused on the finish line, probably even on the last gate before it. And he lost focus, and lost the race. ?

Then there is another story. Our national cycling champion, Primoz Roglic, at the occasion of the Tokio 2021 Olympic Games, was so focused on the race, the time trial, that even after he had crossed the finish line he was continuing with full power for quite some time – before realizing it was all over. With the Olympic gold ?medal around his neck!

Comparing the two stories it is clear that the second one was a guarantee for success. Since Primoz Roglic probably set an imaginary finish line, way beyond the real one, and swooshed through the real one as if he had been in the middle of the race.

With setting an imaginary line past our "personal" or "business" finish lines, we can be sure that our focus will move beyond, into the future, into the "week after our project deadline" … We will simply be not so obsessed by the finish line – and will probably swoosh through it, achieve great success, maintain energy, and will also not feel empty after passing it.

Since in life there is not one finish line, there is not one finish line in business as well.

The end of the year in not a big "end", there is the next year beyond. Everything we do is just a journey, with milestones on the way. I am sure with such perspective and "traveler`s attitude", we will achieve much more wins.?