“Well done is better than well said.”

When I googled it, I discovered that this quote has been attributed to Benjamin Franklin.

That said, it isn’t Benjamin Franklin who has made me squirm over this quote. I’d started a new project and then decided to stop dead in my tracks and toss it to the wayside, discovering that the destination that I was seeking, and the path that I was heading, was not one that I was enjoying all that much. The Ben Franklin quote was posted on social media by a mentor soon after I’d thrown the project to the wayside. While the wise words may not necessarily have been directed at me, I absolutely in my solitude over my phone scrolling on Instagram believed that it was directly at me as some sort of reminder, and a bit of a passive aggressive one, that I would regret bailing and wished I’d seen it through to the end.

And probably not, they probably just posted a motivational quote for the team, and I was reading into it.

That’s what we do when we find ourselves convicted of a decision we’ve made and second guess ourselves I guess.

Oh, I’d had great big plans for this project. I’d written down my end goal along with my short term and long term plans. Then, excitedly, jumped ahead and mapped out where I wanted to be with it in 5 years. The action steps that I anticipated would need to be done before getting there. With due dates and sticky notes and highlights on my calendar, in a rainbow of bright, bold colors. I talked a big game, in my mind, of how this project would change me, change my path, and help those all around me.

It was brilliant.

In my mind.

It is true, though. Well done is better than well said. I mean, an apple pie a la mode is way better than the basket of apples and flour sitting in the cupboard and some ice cream that’s still at the store. But to get to the ‘well done’ of something you must first figure out if the destination of where you are headed, is where you want to be in the first place. Because if it’s not, you can have all the plans and hopes and dreams and it won’t amount to much because you won’t stay with it, and you’ll never get there.

Are you going to have the gumpcha, the “gotta wanna”? Will you be spending time doing something that you enjoy, at least, a bit? Because if not, when the going gets tough it’s going to be pretty hard to motivate yourself to keep pushing through. At least for me. There will be bumps and curves and full-out jack knifed tractor trailer trucks crossing the path, on your road to wherever it is that you’re on. Are you willing to stick it out?

Because there are other paths to the place that you are going. That 5-year plan? Well 5 years is going pass no matter what, and there a million and one ways to get to where it is that you want to be. The trick, of course, is to not get so distracted with figuring out where you want to be, that you get stuck, and end up remaining right where you are: hopeless, and always seeking. Always starting, then changing your mind, and never seemingly finishing.

There needs to be a balance between figuring out where you want to be, and taking the action to get there. Not finishing what you start is a bad habit. It’s fueled by fear and limiting beliefs. And it will keep you stuck.

So what’s a person to do?

There needs to be balance. Recognizing when something is not going to plan and making adjustments along the way, rather, perhaps, than completely bailing on something altogether. Before all of that, though, what you are doing, and where you are heading, has to be something that you want in the first place.

That way, when you get to that ultimate destination, that pinnacle moment when you put the flag on the peak of the mountain, so-to-speak, you can look down over the path you’ve come. You can see the twists and turns and down-right dead ends and back steps and restarts. And you will find that you got to that destination, and maybe wasn’t it was exactly as planned. But you sure learned a lot along the way.

And then, you’ll discover that there’s a higher peak. A new destination. So you’ll pull out that flag, and start again.

You’re never done. You just keep on climbing.