Some put all their strength in the commencement and never carry a thing to a conclusion. They invent but never execute... They sweat away till the obstacle is surmounted, but content themselves with surmounting it: they do not know how to push the victory home... Strike down your quarry, if you are wise; be not content to flush it.
Baltasar Gracián, 1647 (tr. Joseph Jacobs, 1892)
Starting is not finishing, and a certain kind of person pours all their energy into the beginning and none into the completion. They generate ideas, surmount the first obstacle, get the hard part underway, and then stop, mistaking the breakthrough for the result. But an advantage not pressed home is not an advantage; flushing the quarry without striking it proves only that you could begin, and the world remembers who finished. Often this comes from impatience, or from a secret satisfaction in having proved the thing possible, as if proving you can were the same as doing it. It is not. If the undertaking was worth beginning, it is worth finishing, and if it was not worth finishing, it was not worth beginning. Press the advantage all the way to the win, because only the finished thing counts.
Practice
- Press every advantage home; the breakthrough is not the result, and the win only counts once it is finished (maxim 204's patient industry carries it through).
- Watch for the satisfaction of having proved a thing possible; that feeling is a trap that lets you stop one step short of actually doing it.
- Apply the test: if the undertaking is good, finish it; if it is not worth finishing, do not begin it.
Use this when
- Use this when you notice yourself losing interest right after the hard part is cracked; that is the exact moment the win gets abandoned.
- Use it on projects and negotiations alike; the advantage gained and not pressed home is the most common way victories evaporate.
Ignore this when
- Don't confuse pushing home with never letting go; some undertakings should be abandoned on evidence, and finishing a bad one is not a virtue (maxim 56 knows when to stop).
- Don't drive every advantage to ruthless total victory; pressing home the win is not the same as scorching the ground (maxim 217 leaves a door open).
A picture of it
Two colleagues each build a strong case for a needed change. The first does the brilliant hard part, wins the argument in principle, and then, satisfied that he has proved it possible, drifts to the next idea and lets the win evaporate for want of follow-through. The second treats the won argument as the start of the work, not the end: she pushes it through the approvals, the paperwork, the tedious last mile, and the change actually happens. Same idea, same strength at the outset. One flushed the quarry and admired it; the other struck it down, and only her version ever made it into the world.
Flushing the quarry is not catching it. Push the advantage all the way home, or you prove only that you could begin.