210Though they may be great starters, many Christians find
themselves unable to be good finishers. For one reason or
another, creative ideas don’t pan out. A regular schedule of
operations becomes bogged down. Success looms, then is sud-
denly snatched away.
The problem with many poor finishers lies in one of the fol-
lowing causes:- Resistance to structure. Poor finishers feel that submitting
to the discipline of a plan is a putdown. - Fear of success. Poor finishers are overconcerned that suc-
cess will cause others to envy and criticize them. Better to shoot
themselves in the foot than to lose their buddies. - Lack of follow-through. Poor finishers have an aversion to
the boring “nuts and bolts” of turning the crank on a project.
They are much more excited about birthing the idea, then turn-
ing it over to other people to execute it. - Distractibility. Poor finishers are unable to focus on a pro-
ject until it’s done. They have often never developed competent
concentration skills. - Inability to delay gratification. Poor finishers are unable
to work through the pain of a project to experience the satifac-
tion of a job well done. They want to go directly to the pleasure.
They are like children who want to eat dessert before they eat
the well-balanced meal. - Inability to say no to other pressures. Poor finishers are
unable to say no to other people and projects. They don’t have
time to finish any job well.
Those with task completion problems often feel like two-
year-olds in their favorite toy area. They’ll bang a hammer for a
bit, vroom with a toy car, talk to a puppet, and then pick up a
book. All in two minutes or less. It’s easy to see the boundary
problems inherent in those with task completion problems.
Their internal no hasn’t been developed enough to keep them
focused on finishing things.
The Tongue
In a therapy group I was leading, a man held the floor for
some time. He’d go off on tangents, change the subject, and
Boundaries