The Da Vinci Flaw

I was listening to a personal development CD the other day, and
the speaker made a point that really made me stop and think.

Here is what he said…




Do you have a lot of different projects that you start but never
finish? Instead, you just start yet another new one?

Well, I do this all the time. So do many other people.

Now typically, most people almost have a strange form of pride
about this sort of thing. They may regard themselves as
“creative”, or even a highly intelligent multi-tasker. After all,
Leonardo da Vinci started a huge number of projects that he never
finished!

Well, this speaker had a different point of view. He said that
every time you begin yet another project that you never finish,
you have just engaged in SELF-SABOTAGE.

Now that’s a fresh perspective, don’t you think? It’s certainly
not the way I’ve been trained to think about it. Yet, as I thought
about it, and listened to his reasoning, I realized that he was
absolutely correct. It truly is. Here’s why…

It has to do with the subconscious mind and the way you train it
to respond. You see, every time you leave a project unfinished,
you have just engaged in lack of integrity with yourself. You
have taught yourself that you are not a person of your word. You
cannot be taken seriously, even by yourself, and you can be
relied upon NOT to follow through. In other words, you will make
a decision, and then fail to pursue it to the finish. THAT is
what you are telling yourself over and over again. As you know,
actions speak louder than words. Hence, it’s not what you say
that really matters. It’s what you do that counts, especially
when your subconscious mind is looking on.

What else have you done? You have told your subconscious mind
that you are not serious. In other words, that magical part of
you, which can work behind the scenes to create seeming miracles
for you, doesn’t have to bother. “Oh, you’re just a talker”, it
can mutter to itself. “You’re not serious. So I’m not going to
bother myself”. Where you could have awakened the most powerful
ally known to Man to assist you, you have instead put it to
sleep.

Worse than that, you actually teach your subconscious to work
AGAINST you when you DO try to persist in a project. Why? Since
your “norm” is not to follow through, and this is the comfort
zone you have established for yourself, your subconscious mind
will act like a thermostat and pull you back into line once you
start to stray from the norm. It is concerned primarily for your
safety, and hence any strong move away from the status quo
thereby spells “DANGER”!

Hence, even though you may have been into this kind of
perpetual multi-project madness before, it is important that you
get control over the situation. Otherwise, you are in danger
of attempting much and achieving nothing, and then wondering why.
You are self-sabotaging and you don’t even know it.

This is a world full of distractions and changing landscape. Wait
in the same place for an hour and it will look different. We are
constantly being challenged to maintain our focus and to complete
what we begin. There are so many temptations to drop what we have
begun and run off after something better. People do it all the
time. It has become the watchword of our society.

Rather, take the motto, “It ain’t done until it’s done” to heart!
This means you don’t start something else until you have finished
what you are doing. You pursue a project right to completion. You
reinforce GOOD habits to your subconscious, and you keep
agreements to yourself. You tell yourself that you are a person
who can be trusted to keep your word, and that integrity means
something to you.

This also means that “nearly done” is NOT “done”. It does not
matter if you have worked at a project for 500 hours and there is
just another 3 hours of work left to finish it. If you don’t put
in those 3 hours of work, it isn’t done. What if aircraft
manufacturers did everything else, but failed to fit the front
wheel onto the passenger plane? Or the windscreen in the cockpit?
Or neglected to put the hinges on the emergency exit? I think you
get the point now with regards to your own projects? Remember:
“It ain’t done until it’s done!”

So, forget pursuing twenty dreams at once. Pursue just a few
projects, or even just ONE, and get them finished before moving
onto something else. In this way, you will pursue an upward
cycle of success and achieve one dream after another.

May it be so for you.

Copyright Asoka Selvarajah 2005. All Rights Reserved.

Asoka Selvarajah is a writer on personal growth and spirituality, and the author of “The 7 Golden Secrets To Knowing Your Higher Self”. His work helps people achieve their full potential, deepen their understanding of mystical truth, and discover their soul’s purpose. You can subscribe to his FREE ezine, and get his FREE ebook “Inner Light Outer Wealth” at:
http://www.aksworld.com/AspireToWisdom.htm?imk=Blog

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