I took a pause after reading this today. What a strange proverb! As I often do in these scenarios I started looking at other translations. What was confusing me the more I read was the “slothful” person already has gotten something. Already achieved. Already… and then it hit me. The Slothful Person is good enough at starting, but not finishing. Maybe it is a great idea. Maybe it is something that they propose that gets started but they move on to something else. Maybe it is something they get 80% done and “run out of steam.” They hunt, kill, but don’t finish the process. Their work rots because of that one final step not taken. Maybe they got discouraged. Maybe the Slothful Person is named D.J.  

I have an office lined with 80% done projects, next to new shiny ideas. My next book is about ready, and has been for months now. So, what’s the problem? Fear of failure? Feeling like I am already tired of it? A lifetime of modeled behavior? Yes… Ctrl+A, yes to all… check the boxes, this is me. The problem is my patterns. Remember that office full of mostly done projects? The cure is what I’ve been doing lately. The cure is to break the pattern with one thing: diligence! I have started the process of evaluating projects in a mostly done state. Some are dead and get thrown out. Some need new life and are back in the planner until they are completed! This process of pattern-breaking started for me two months ago, and now I get messages several times per week about what my first book has meant to people. Am I really going to let this second book drift off into Slothland? I’m committing to have the easy logistics and edits needed to take the next step to launch my next book- by this week’s end (May 16th 2020). I’m committing to talking thru my fears about this publicly (which I actually did just that on YouTube, after writing this.) I will break this pattern. Then I’ll keep diligent in the face of my nature. People need what I have to teach! But they won’t see it unless I finish!

So what are you doing to break your sloth cycle?

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