By Patrick Robinson

One of the characteristics of people who self actualize is the ability to finish what they start.

I didn’t understand this for a long time.

I once worked at a variety store in Burien called House of Values. I sold cameras and jewelry and guns (they were all in the same area) even though I knew nothing about two of them. But people would come in and ask me to fix their watch bands. Truly an annoying task. But I would try and fail. The line would build up at the cash register so I’d pass that job off to a co-worker. This however became a habit for me…So one day I was called into the store manager’s office and he told me. “Knock it off. Finish what you start. Ask for help on the register but stick with the customer. It’s what they expect and deserve”

The same goes for ideas you might have about almost anything. From a new product idea to an improvement in something, the idea is only a small part of it. The real change happens when it becomes real. But to get it there means following through.

The world is full of dreamers. They can carry signs, or shout at a rally, or march down the street but those are still only partial efforts.

I had a friend once tell me, “I’m a forty yard guy. I like to come up with the idea and hand it off to somebody else” in a reference to a football running back.

But ideas and change are not brought about by handing things off. That’s a lazy and frankly somewhat cowardly path.

You can recruit others to your idea, cause or purpose and that’s called leadership.

But ideas alone, while fun to contemplate are not worth a lot.

It’s only useful to the world if you have the courage to get the idea, make note of it, then take steps to make it real. That’s what changes the world, and moves us all forward.