Where The Time Goes

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Wow, where does the day go? Where does the time go? Where does the week go? Time waits on no one. Wow. You know they also say that the trouble is you think you have time.

Finish Strong Friday Starts Here

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Greetings and welcome. It is Friday. It is not just Friday, sweet spotter. It is Finish Strong Friday. Around these parts, we don't say TGIF. We say Finish Strong. It's Friday. Yes, we've been in a series, Sweet Spotter, in a great series here called Today's Word. Seven days, seven words. We find ourselves on day five of the seven days of words we've been exploring together, unpacking together, and making sense of together. And before we go anywhere, I need to tell us something that nobody talks about.

Why People Quit Near The End

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I want us to really unpack this one. Most people don't fail at the beginning of things, they fail right before the end. And on Finish Strong Friday, this is why we make the word today finish. Remember on Monday we chose to move. That was our word. On Tuesday we decided to act. That was our word. Wednesday was about winning. And then Thursday we rebuilt our word trust. One kept promise at a time. Move, act, win, trust. Those were our words. And today, Friday, is where all four of those words get their answer. Because here's what I've learned about finishing. It isn't about speed. And it isn't about energy. It isn't even about motivation. Finishing is about one thing.

Finishing Means Not Stopping

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Not stopping. Now here's the science that stopped me cold, and I want us to sit with it together.

The Goal Gradient Effect Explained

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Have you ever heard of something called the goal gradient effect? Don't worry, until I was researching for this, I didn't either. Goal gradient effect is something that researchers in human motivation discovered. That the closer we get to a goal, the more urgency we feel, and the more commitment we feel, and we become more determined to finish. The goal gradient effect. But there's another side. There's always another side, right? It can't be simple. Yeah, here's the other side that nobody talks about.

When The ACC Hits The Brakes

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That same proximity to the finish line can trigger something else entirely in our brains. Yeah, the ACC, the anterior cingulate cortex, the region of our brain that continuously weighs effort and weighs out the cost-benefit ratio, it can also get active when we get close to a goal. And you know what the ACC does? It can reduce the signal to keep pushing and finish the goal. Not because we're lazy or because we don't care, but because the brain starts to compute, hmm, we're close enough to this goal. Let's conserve some energy, let's conserve some resources to see if something else comes next. It's just a reflexive kind of thing that we do as humans. Can you imagine that? That you're getting close to your goal and your brain actually is trying to slow you down. Have you ever been there where you're like that close to finishing and you can't figure out why you're not finishing? It could be just your brain doing what it does. This whole idea of your ACC conserving resources just in case something comes next. So you've got to have awareness that Monday could feel electric with a new word. And Tuesday, you can have momentum as you build action. And Wednesday, you can feel like a winner in the middle of it because you're fighting. And Thursday, you promise yourself you trust yourself to keep it going. And then Friday, bonk, bonk, bonk, you kind of slow down. The couch calls you. The fatigue sets in. The voice, the little voice on your shoulder that says, you know what, you've done enough, man. Just pick it up on the weekend, put it off for another day. You know that voice isn't exactly weakness, it's it's your brain doing what it's designed to do, like I said, with this ACC. And today is why we have Finish Strong Friday so that the ACC doesn't get to win. You override the ACC. And the ancient wisdom always backs us up.

Why The End Matters More

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In Ecclesiastes, Solomon writes, better is the end of a thing than the beginning of a thing. Finishing is better than starting. Finishing is better than starting. That's in the ancient wisdom, and it makes so much sense. What's the point of starting to build a house and then you don't finish it? What's the sense of starting to write a book? I speak to myself, and then you don't finish it. So finishing is an extremely important concept here on Finish Strong Friday and in life. And the ancient wisdom is clear. Finishing is better than starting. Because the beginning is easy to romanticize, isn't it? Who doesn't love a launch? Who doesn't love the beginning of things? Everyone celebrates, the energy is high, the vision board, the new habit, everything feels great. Monday energy, right? But by the time Friday rolls around, by the time the work really gets to be going, the ancient wisdom, I think, puts it this way: the the harvest is plenty, but the laborers are few. One by one they disappear. Yeah, that's the danger. Because you see, finishing is where character is revealed. Finishing is where the trust that you built on Thursday gets tested. Finishing is where the move that you talked about and that we talked about on Monday either becomes momentum or it doesn't. Where the act, the action that we talked about on Take Action Tuesday becomes evidence of what we've done or not. And whether the win becomes real or not.

Never Give In When Tired

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In the words of Winston Churchill, speaking to the students of Harrow School in the darkest days of World War II, never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never, never. In nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in. Never give in. Now it isn't saying never fail or never struggle or never feel like stopping. Of course. We're human. We can feel like that. But here's the thing: we never give in. There's a profound difference in those things. We can feel like stopping and still finish. We can be exhausted and still finish. We can be uncertain about what the outcome is and still finish. We could feel like just going upstairs and taking a nap or going around the corner and chilling at the restaurant and still finish. Because you see, sweet spotter, sweet builder, and sweet dreamer, finishing is not a feeling. You know what it is? It's

Finishing Is A Decision

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a decision. Now here's where we're gonna bring this home. Remember Thursday we talked about the anterior mid-singular cortex, the ACC, the part of the brain that literally grows when you do things you don't want to do? Today's that day. It's for the strong Friday. You got something to do, you don't feel like doing it, today's that day. Take one step forward, write something down, make the call, take an action, put on your sneakers. I don't care what it takes, get it done. The choice right there. That's what separates people who almost did and the ones who did get it done.

You Are Already A Finisher

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Yeah, and here's the revelation I want to land in our hearts today. Sweet spotter, you've been finishing all week. Listen, you got here, right? It's Friday. That means you completed Monday through Thursday. We didn't just start on Monday, we finished Monday. We didn't just act on Tuesday, we finished Tuesday. We didn't just uh channel our inner winner on Wednesday, we finished Wednesday, and you know what? You kept your promise, you trusted yourself, and you got to work, you got your task done, and you finished on Thursday. And here we are together in the game, sweet spotter, in the game of life, and we are already finishers. We're finishing strong today. It's not T G I F it's finish strong Friday. Today is just us proving what we already know about ourselves, right? For science, for soul, and for success. You are listening to the sweet spot. I'm Dr. Derek Sweet. Today is word five of seven finish. We've got two more days. Tomorrow, day six is a word. The world really gives us permission to explore. But we're gonna do it. So you gotta show up. And if you haven't subscribed, finish the job. Subscribe. Okay? And if you know someone who could use a message on finishing strong, I want you to share it with them. Until tomorrow, sweet spotter. Stay in your sweet spot.