How to Become a Good Finisher

Written by Paul Piotrowski - Sunday, March 27th, 2011

As a scanner / polymath type personality we are typically awesome starters but horrible finishers. Meaning it is really easy for us to start new projects, but very difficult to actually “finish” something.

We often hear people saying things like “You never finish anything!” or “When are you going to find something you can stick to?” or “You’ll never be successful in life if you always quit on things.”

In this episode of The Paulymath Show discover the only real way a scanner / polymath type personality can become good at “finishing” things:

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Julie says:

March 27, 2011 at 12:24 pm

Busted!! I am a specialist married to a scanner. Actually your insight is very helpful to ME, because having an explanation like that (of finishing, in his own definiton) actually puts the issue to rest in my own mind. (Now, any suggestions on how I can motivate him to finish the fence?! LOL)

Julie´s last post was… My Friends- The Clairs

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- Paul Piotrowski says:
  
  March 27, 2011 at 1:54 pm
  
  Finishing the fence is one of your values. He has his own values. We always find time / energy to do things that our our own value, but never find time / energy to do things that don’t align with our values.
  
  So, the best way to “influence” someone is to figure out how both YOUR values and HIS/HER values are met at the same time.
  
  For example, some of my highest values are personal development and entrepreneurship. So if I wanted to motivate myself to finish a fence, I’d wrap it around those values. Meaning, asking myself “How does finishing the fence help me with personal development?” or “How does finishing the fence help me as an entrepreneur?”
  
  At first it may seem like finishing a fence and entrepreneurship are not related. However, what if we looked at it this way. Let’s say I had a choice to either spend $1,000 on hiring someone to finish the fence for me or spending $1,000 to invest in a video camera, some lights and a professional microphone to help me improve the quality of you YouTube videos. Which would I choose?
  
  Meaning, imagine if my wife came to me and said “Honey, I really want to get the fence fixed so I phoned around and found out that it will cost $1,000 to get the fence finished. Now I was thinking that we could take that money out of our savings and either hire someone to fix the fence and pay them the $1,000 to get it done OR the other thing we could do is if YOU could get the fence finished then we could take that $1,000 and invest it into your business instead. What do you think?”
  
  See what I mean? This is just one example. There are millions of different ways it can play out. First figure out what your husbands highest values are, and then find a way in which him getting the fence finished supports his highest values. It may take a little bit of work to put yourself in his shoes and see the world through his perspective, but I guarantee it will be worth it.
  
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  - Julie says:
    
    March 31, 2011 at 6:31 am
    
    You are so right about this. Sometimes it’s the obvious, isn’t it? There is so much conflict (or at least, confusion) that can be resolved if you just look at it from that point of view.
    
    Julie´s last post was… Psychic Readings and Interpreting The Messages
    
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Kylon says:

March 27, 2011 at 12:25 pm

I’m a scanner. Great Post! Totally Agree!!!

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Vancouver Graphic Designer says:

March 27, 2011 at 4:02 pm

This is an excellent video Paul – definitely helped me out. Being a scanner I am all too familiar with starting projects and finding it difficult to “finish” them as defined by society. I have realized over the years to let go of alot of the guilt associated with trying to please others but your video just solidified the last piece I needed to hear to make this complete for me. Thanks for posting!

Vancouver Graphic Designer´s last post was… Small Business Tips – Decision Making Part 2- How to Make Better Decisions

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Jonathan says:

March 27, 2011 at 4:18 pm

Once again I find myself browsing from my phone, on which watching videos is a bit inconvenient.

But this is one I look forward to watching very much, as this is by far my biggest challenge in life. I get interested in so many things, but my follow through is terrible.

Worse, I am also very results orientated, so when I do not see the results I want early, I often give up and move on to something else.

I find myself easilly bored and distracted too.

Jonathan´s last post was… The Ungodliness Of The Godly

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Make Money Online says:

March 30, 2011 at 12:38 pm

definitely agree Paul. I think procrastination is a really bad thing and we need to start being productive!

Make Money Online´s last post was… Interview With Carlocab – The Kid Blogger

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ottawa web design says:

April 10, 2011 at 5:47 am

I am a big scanner man. Really this is good post. thank you

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