004: Never Ever Stop in the Middle

Here’s a Steli Efti exclusive just for you! Never, ever, ever stop in the middle. I’ve given that piece of advice several times, but never publicly; until now. No matter what you’re doing—a sales presentation, keynote speech, podcast recording—finish it. Keep going, even if your inner voice tells you to stop: This isn’t going well. I could do this better. I wanted to say something different. Can I stop and do this again? No! There are no redos in real life. You can’t start over. Don’t stop in the middle of a performance and get out of character. Make it part of your performance, instead of trying to rewrite history in front of a live audience. Don’t bore them with your insecurities. It’s not entertaining, engaging, educational, fun, exciting, or valuable. There’s a certain discipline that it takes to learn to keep going, when you think things aren’t going well. Never, ever, ever stop in the middle or beginning. Finish what you started. Then, you can do better next time! Show Notes: When your natural impulse and instinct is to stop:

Finish what you started. Overcome the obstacle. Manage the challenge. Get good at keep going.

Links and resources: Steli Efti on Twitter Hiten Shah on Twitter Close.io Close.io Blog Close.io YouTube Channel The Startup Chat Podcast