Don't Just See The Finish Line

In James C. Collins' book, "Good To Great", he explains that BAD is not the enemy of GREAT.  The true enemy of GREAT is GOOD.  

Think about a person who has trained for months to run their first 26.2 mile marathon.  All the sweat, all the pain and all the sacrifice that goes into the journey leading up to race day.  On race day, they step up to the starting line in the best shape of their life and are ready to do this.  At mile 25.2, they can see the finish line up a 1 mile slope.  Thoughts start creeping in like, "I've already accomplished more than most people will in their lifetime by training and running 25.2 miles and I'm so tired...I've done good enough."  Imagine the regret of stopping just 1 mile short of completing something you've worked so hard to achieve because it was, "good enough".

What does this have to do with money?  My wife and I had a "we've done good enough" moment a few weeks ago.  Are we running a marathon..no way.  But we have been on a 33 month "marathon" to pay off our house.  In the middle of month 32, with only 3 months to go, we nearly decided to slow down on the rest of the payments and enjoy ourselves a little more.  After all, in the last 32 months we'd done more than most people can or are willing to do in 4x that amount of time.  We almost decided to stretch out our last three huge (sacrificing lifestyle) payments, for a more comfortable 6 or 12 months of payments.

Thankfully we've decided that "good enough" is NOT good enough.  We are going to push through the next few months and keep pushing until we feel the tape at the finish line tight against our chest and then that final moment when the tape snaps and the tension of the sacrifices we've made over the last 35 months falls away.

Don't settle for good...PUSH FOR GREAT!  

Don't just see the finish line...CROSS IT!