Some people are glad it's Friday. We're just not glad. We are ready to finish. Because at the sweet spot, we don't just say T G I F. We say Finish Strong Friday. Here we come. Welcome, welcome, beautiful souls. Welcome back to the sweet spot. Yes. Finish Strong Friday is here. I'm Dr. Derek Sweet. I'm your soul partner here, your soul sojourner, the guy who walks with you on the road of life as we make sense of this mystery we call life. And we, beautiful soul, we've been in an amazing series here for this week called Hold Line. Today is our fifth episode in the seven episodes we're doing. And today's episode on Finish Strong Friday is entitled Finish What You Started. No fade. Do not fade. No surre bob. We are not fading. We just because it's Friday. Yeah, your legs feel heavier today. Okay, your focus is not as fast as it should be today, maybe. Maybe small things are annoying you more than they should. Maybe your shoulders feel a little tighter, you feel a little wary, you're breathing shallow, you're not your 1000 Monday making moves Monday self. But that's not weakness, that's just Friday. That's just Friday talking. We know how Friday gets. Remember, on Monday of this week in this series, we talked about holding the line. We defined what the line is. You're gonna hold your ground, and you did it all week. I'm so proud of you. On Take Action Tuesday, you moved and you didn't wait for the mood to hit for you to move. That was powerful. On Win It All Wednesday, you competed without shrinking. You were big, you were thinking big and you did not shrink in the moment. You didn't shrink back from anything. Thursday, remember? Trust yourself Thursday? Yeah, we trusted our training. We trusted the things that prepared us for the moment. And that brings us right here to Finish Strong Friday because it's on Friday that the real opponent shows up, and the real opponent is sneaky. The real opponent, the real opponent is kind of quiet. You know what the real opponent is? Fatigue. Yeah, let's be precise. By the end of a demanding week, there's a structure in your brain, a region in your brain that tracks your internal discomfort and it gets louder. It magnifies everything because it knows that you're fatigued. This brain region, no, it's not the prefrontal cortex, no, it is not the amygdala, no, it's not the basal ganglia, and I'm so proud of you for knowing those structures. This is the insula, I-n-s-u-l-a. We've talked about the brain and the insula here. Yes, by the end of a demanding week, your insula, this brain structure, the region that tracks internal discomfort, gets loud. It magnifies effort. And any task you have can feel heavier than it really is, thanks to the insula interpreting it. But here's the truth. You feel done before you're actually done. You feel done before you're done. That's a fact, and that sentence alone can change how you finish your day. Back in 1631, remember our battle of Britainfield? Remember King Gustafus? We talked about him all week. Remember, that's where we get this whole hold a line term from. He, King Gustafus Adolphus, was in a battle in 1631, 17th century. And he was the one who formed his soldiers into a line, and they won, they won. But you know what? They didn't win the first volley. There was thick smoke in the air, arms were burning, there were hours of sustained fire, it was a battle. And he, being part of this Swedish infantry, they held the line. They didn't surge emotionally, they didn't do anything fancy, they weren't super courageous, they were just holding on to their line. They held formation even while they were exhausted. That's how lines win, even in football. That's how lines win, not with adrenaline, but with discipline under depletion. When you're depleted, when you're down, when you're kidding, you know, the the ancient wisdom, which you knew I was gonna say, says it this way: When you finish standing, stand. You keep standing. That's your discipline under your depletion. And there's an author, Angela Duckworth, she wrote a book called Grit. She's very big on uh mental performance. She wrote that grit is passion and perseverance for the very long-term goals that you have. Notice the word perseverance. Yeah, this is not about hype or intensity, it's it's about endurance. The Stoic philosopher Epictetus, I I quote him quite a bit, one of my favorite stoic philosophers, he said that nothing great is created suddenly. That means that you don't build greatness with a quick burst, you build it by not fading out when the fatigue hits. You build it by enduring, by persevering. Yeah, absolutely. And in the in the ancient wisdom, they say it this way in the message Bible, not the KJV yet. They say, let us not allow ourselves to get fatigued doing good, doing the right thing. At the right time, we, if we keep going, will reap a harvest, a good crop if we don't give up or quit. Now it doesn't say no fatigue, it doesn't deny fatigue in the ancient wisdom. You know what it's doing? It's refusing to surrender. Let's not allow ourselves, let's not grow wary in well-doing. Alright, I threw a little King James language in there. Don't grow weary into well-doing. In the message word, it says, Don't allow yourself to just get fatigued just because you're doing the right thing or doing good. No, don't surrender. Do not surrender. That's a big part of it. Rest if you must, but don't you quit. Poem my mom gave me when I was in high school. Rest if you must, but don't quit. I think the name of the poem was Don't Quit. I'm gonna have to look that poem up. Mom, if you're listening, could you look up that poem for me? It's called Don't Quit. You gave it to me in high school, and it really resonated. Turned out okay for me not to surrender. Yeah, the ancient wisdom reminds us that fatigue is a part of it, you just don't surrender to it. And alright, you're not into the ancient wisdom. The Dhammapada from Buddhism teaches it in a similar way. If a person is resolute and mindful, it says in verse 23, his glory increases so that there is a reward if you run the race correctly. You will reap the benefit. Yes, to stay mindful while you're tired. Think about that. So you're an athlete. Are you the kind of athlete that can handle the pressure when the game is on the line? Will you finish it? You're an executive. Can you close this business deal out or close out this week strong? Maybe you're an officer on a shift, the final shift, or you have to do the night shift tonight as a doctor, you're covering call or whatever. You're a nurse, you're on finishing round. Are you a finisher? Are you gonna finish? You're the closer. Maybe you're just uh sitting around at home and you know you have a project to do, and you know you shouldn't be looking at that TV. I speak to myself. Get up and finish it because that's what you do. Remember, we talked about your identity as a finisher. A parent at 9 p.m., trust me, they're a closer. At 10 p.m., they're a closer. If you have kids, you're closing out for them because they gotta go to bed. Maybe you're retired, a retired person, you're fighting loneliness on a quiet Friday night. Like tonight is a Friday night. It's finish strong Friday, right? Look, you learn to love yourself, you learn to be kind to yourself, you learn to give yourself what you need. Finishing is never dramatic. It's not dramatic. Typically, it's not, it's just discipline continuation of what you started. If you started discipline, finish it with a disciplined approach. Yeah. Shrink the horizon. Don't try to win the season. Don't try to win the whole game in the first quarter. Don't try to get all the answers quickly. Win it moment by moment. Conversation by conversation. Your kid's not doing the right thing, you have to have several conversations with them. And one day, at the right time, you will finish strong with that. It's hour by hour, it's minute by minute. So you want to shrink the horizon, don't look at the entire remember the journey of a thousand steps, a thousand miles begins with one step. Step by step. Guard each moment, treat it powerfully, and then lower the emotional volume, right? Fatigue. Here's the thing about fatigue: when you are finishing strong, you will find fatigue. In a marathon, they get there comes a point in a race where the 18th mile, you're distorted, you're tired, and the fatigue is making the last few miles feel as if it's a thousand more miles to go. Fatigue distorts perception, it lies. You have to say it out loud. The best athletes, the strongest athletes, the best performers, they say it out loud. This is fatigue talking. That's not even true. Say it out loud if you have to. That's fatigue talking. That's not true. And then protect form, right? When you're tired, don't chase greatness. When you're tired, rest. It's that simple. When you're tired, protect yourself, rest and recover. We'll talk about that uh in self-care Saturday, tomorrow. But yeah, protect your form, right? So you yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Shrink the horizon, first step, lower the emotional volume. Just know that fatigue tends to hype things up, and you're not gonna go for that. And the third thing, protect your form, protect yourself. When you're tired, don't chase the greatness then. Chase your fundamentals. Go back to the things that make sense to you and get some rest. Get your breath steady, get your posture upright, square your shoulders, breathe, make your decisions simple. When you are tired, that is not the time to think of all the fantastic things you're gonna do now. Rest, recover, reset, and get back to your fundamentals. So simple. That's how you hold a line. Then the fourth thing I want to say is rehearse your identity. Remember, I told you sometimes I have to remind myself, I'm Dr. Derek Sweet. I host the sweet spot. That's what I do every single day. That is what I do. I rehearse my identity. So when I know who I am, I don't have to wait for a mood to finish the sweet spot. I don't have to get in the right mindset. That's what I do, it's my identity. So I say it. I finish, I don't fade, my line holds. And I want you to say that. Whatever you're going through today, whatever challenge you're facing, whatever your your obstacle is, or your goal. It may not be an obstacle, it could be a goal. This is what you say. Maybe you have an issue with procrastination. I speak to myself. Sometimes I procrastinate. Here's what you say. You rehearse your identity. I finish. I'm just waiting for you to say it. Great. I do not fade. My line holds. Yeah. Yeah, sweet spotters. When you can say those things to your prefrontal cortex, you are making sure that your anterior cingular cortex and your insula don't get to just detect errors and say what's wrong. You are making a conscious effort to stay online. Biologically, you override anything that's trying to discount your effort. Psychologically, you're strengthening your perseverance identity. I finish, I don't fade, my line holds. Socially, people look at you, they see you, and they they want to help you and they want to work with you because you're reliable under pressure. Think of a coach looking at you as a player. You finish, you don't fade, you hold a line, oh boy, coach, put me in, coach, put me in. And it doesn't have to be only sports, it could be that you're in business. I finish, I don't fade, my line holds. Your boss is gonna be like, hey, that's the one, that's the one I want. You're in a relationship, your partner wants to count on you to be a finisher, somebody who doesn't fade, and you hold a line, you hold it down for them. That's what I'm talking about on Finish Strong Friday. Absolutely. And then spiritually, you align with your higher purpose, you you whatever your belief system is, you align with that. We talk about alignment. Get aligned with your God, get aligned with your higher purpose, your deepest, most profound belief. Greater is that which is in me than anything is in the world. If God be for me, who can be against me? And so on and so on. I can do all things, blah blah blah. You know, I can go on further than that. Yeah, okay, you know what I'm talking about. Whatever your line is, have it ready. So you override the amygdala, you override the insula, you override the ACC. You are all PFC right now. And here's the line I want you to carry into this weekend. Fatigue lies, fatigue exaggerates, fatigue hypes it up, fatigue distorts. You can turn to fatigue right now, and you can say, hey, fatigue, you a liar, and the truth is not in you. You do, yeah, yeah, yeah. You're not as done as you feel. You can you got another rep in you. You got another, yeah, you got another level, you have another gear. You have it. And when you need to rest, you rest, but then you get right back up. You fall down seven, you get up eight. You're not backing down because you're holding the line. You're listening to the sweet spot. I'm Dr. Derek Sweet. I'm proud to be holding the line with you. I'm right there with you holding the line today. We got to hold the line. Tomorrow, tomorrow is what? Tomorrow is self-care Saturday? Hey, that's where we talk about recovery. Not retreat, but restoration. Yeah, that's what we're gonna talk about. Because you see, warriors, if you're a warrior, yeah, you don't just finish, you restore. Warriors know how to restore themselves so they have something to bring to the battle. How are you gonna come to the battle tired? You didn't do your recovery. That's gonna catch up with you, and then we can't count on you. We can't count on you to to finish, to not fade, to hold a line. Remember the lines that we said when we said rehearse your identity. I finish, I do not fade. My line holds. Well, tomorrow we're gonna take care of that. We're gonna make sure we deal with restoration. Thank you so much for listening to the sweet spot. Thank you so much for jumping in to finish Strong Friday with me and for holding the line with me. So if this sharpened you today, I invite you to share it. Subscribe, it's absolutely free. There is no charge. Subscribe and follow. Because when you do that, you're helping to build our community, our sweet spot community that refuses to fade. And if you know someone, you have a friend, a colleague, somebody you care about, that could benefit from a finished strong message today. This is your message. And let me leave you with this, beloved. You don't need a comeback story, you need a strong finish. Let's hold a line. For science, for soul, for success.