Men. Intelligent. ™
CHALLENGE #27
Don’t start before completing Challenge #26.
If you want to join the IntelliMen Project, start from Challenge #1.
Challenge: Finish a project that you abandoned.
Explanation: One of the greatest things that a man has is his word. If you give your word to someone, you should honour it. And the first person you should practice this on is yourself. When you promise yourself something and then fail to live up to it, you’re training your brain to distrust you. (Reread this last phrase.)
Let’s look at the impact that could have on your life. Let me give you an example. What does a lie that someone tells you do to your relationship? At the very least you will begin to have doubts about that person. You might lose your trust in him and cut off all contact. Why would you do that? Because that person showed himself to be unworthy of your trust.
The same thing happens when we make a promise to ourselves, when we decide we’re going to do something, and then fail to keep our word to ourselves because of a simple lack of effort. “I’m going to study for the test this weekend.” When the time comes to study you make an excuse to get out of it. “I’m going to lose weight, no excuses.” By lunchtime you’ve already forgotten what you said. “This idea is great! I’m going to act on it.” You might even begin, but other things pop up and you simply give up.
The IntelliMen Project is a great example of this. How many started and how many are still plugging away at it? How many are having problems with their partner giving up? This is very common for men. They start but don’t finish what they start. They lie to themselves. But the consequences are disastrous because whenever anyone lies to you, you stop believing in them.
Do you suppose your lack of self-confidence (the act of believing in yourself) might have something to do with this terrible habit you have?
Intelligent men finish what they start. (Unless there’s no benefit to what they started. Sometimes we find out that we made a mistake and the best thing to do is to abort the project.)
So, your challenge this week is to identify a project, idea, task, purpose, or any other promise that you made to yourself, or anyone else, and continue it to the very end. All of us have something like this in our lives. Think of something that’s really important, that would benefit you a great deal if it were completed.
Between painting your house and paying off a debt to your neighbour, for example, the debt would have priority.
Notebook: Take 10-15 minutes to reflect on your unfinished projects. Write all of them down in your Notebook. This will help you decide which ones you need to abort, and which ones you want to keep and eventually conclude. Choose one and act upon it this week.
Official Partner: Speak to your partner about the unfinished project you have identified and discuss how this problem of unfinished projects has affected you.
Deadline: You may begin working on this task immediately and complete it in a week, then go on to Challenge #28. You might not be able to completely finish your unfinished project in a week, but that’s okay, begin working on it and keep it up until it’s finished.
Post: After – and only after – you have completed the challenge, post your comments – on the IntelliMenWorld Facebook or Twitter page, (not on your own page) and write the following:
IntelliMen Challenge #27 done: I will never lie to myself again. (Add your thoughts and conclusions in regards to this challenge.)
Links:
www.facebook.com/IntelliMenWorld
www.twitter.com/intellimenworld (when tweeting, use @intelliMenworld)
Verification checklist
☐ Identify an unfinished project and start working on it again until it is finished
☐ I wrote in my Notebook a list of unfinished things I have
☐ My partner and I spoke about this challenge
☐ I posted my comments on Facebook/Twitter
Phrase:
So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit. (John 19:30)
