Of Finishing What You Start

One of my resolutions for this year is to slightly alter a long-established pattern of behaviour that I’ve recognised in myself. I have a tendency to start things and then get distracted by new shiny things that come along.I do have to point out that there are things I’ve completed, so I am not a total loss!I have a highly curious nature which means I listen to and observe pretty much everything everything. People I meet introduce me to music, authors, poets, sports, sciences, food and other interests that I’ve not been exposed to before.I love the process of discovery. Reading about something, learning about it.An example of my not-finishing (well... it is actually a work-in-progress) is snowboarding. I went to Mt Ruapehu with my ex a few years back. The purpose was to learn to board. I managed to get a total of two hours on the slopes before having to call it a day due to other circumstances. In those two hours I invented entirely new methods of wiping out. And absolutely loved it!In 2009 I planned to get to the mountain. I bought clothes, a board, bindings etc. over the first half of the year. I was completely ready. And then I got too busy to go. My trip to meet my mother was a priority. I missed the season entirely. In January of 2010, I looked at the shiny virginal snowboard in my apartment and determined that 2010 would be the year of learning to board. Again, the weather and work and busy-ness of the people I’d go with meant that I missed the season. Clearly I’m not doing this right.So, 2011. I’m going to learn to snowboard. I am going to purchase a pass to Snowplanet and learn.So, where did this trait come from?I remember my parents having a fascination with the ‘Bridge to Nowhere’. It was built in 1935 and was meant to be a link between the central North Island and Taranaki. This never quite eventuated.Was I conditioned through this fascination? I don’t think so. I met my birth mother in 2009. That is a subject for another blog post. I learned that I am very much like her. She gets interested in things, intensely, then moves on. Her house is testament to this. There is the sword collection (from when she discovered swords), there is the model sailing ship that she started constructing in 1987 and hasn’t quite finished. There are the piles of books that she is currently reading. The apple hasn’t fallen far from the tree.Another aspect to this is learning to recognise when you have actually completed something. For example, when have you finished with your current job? When has a relationship run its course?It is now 2011. Aside from learning to board, what other things should I complete? Have I done all I can with my current role? I know I need to push Audiozone a little harder. I’m still doing the ongoing cooking thing (which will be a lifetime project). Should I get back into study (actually formalise and refine what I’ve learned in business so far)? I’d like to get back into playing bass. And then what things should I begin? Learn a language? So many ideas flowing...- Simon.