Washing dishes one morning, The Grasshopper chimed in with this: “I don’t like starting my day cleaning up from yesterday.”

I think it was more than a household hint from Heloise. It got me wondering about all the things I abandon that will still be there tomorrow.

The Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu reminded us: “Do the difficult things while they are easy and do the great things while they are small.”

It’s predictive that what’s left for another day will make us pay.

This isn’t a message about getting more things done. It’s more about what’s left undone.

Unfinished business follows you around like a salesperson in a furniture store. It has staying power.

What’s left unfinished is cumulative. That means it adds more to your burden each day you delay.

We all have some unfinished business that needs cleaning up. The main reason we avoid it is the perceived pain of ripping off the band-aide. Rarely do we consider the mental strain that piles up every day by not airing out the wound.

Unfinished business is like borrowing money from a loan shark. The longer we take in paying it back, not only makes it more expensive, but it can take years off our life.

Going forward, the recommendation is don’t start anything you can’t finish. But if you’ve already begun, it will be your undoing if you leave it undone.

All the best,

John