I like working with wood. I think I am pretty good at it. The project I am working on now will look absolutely fabulous when it’s done. I can hardly wait.

But I also have the pieces of two stalled projects nicely put away in bins, one of which I haven’t look at for two years. I am still waiting for the resolve to tackle them. In one case, my portable table saw can’t provide the accuracy I need to finish cutting four lap joints. In the other, I am afraid I will make a complete mess of the glue-up and it will end up looking like hell, so I just leave the parts there, in the basement, doing nothing.

Those lonely parts are intended to solve a problem, yet in their current state, they do nothing. It would be wonderful if, in their partially completed state, they partially meet their intended purpose, but of course they don’t even approximate serving their purpose. As they sit, they are sunk costs. There is time and money in them, but there is no need met, no solution provided. You might say they are the parts of an irreducibly complex system where, until the final screw is set or the last coat of paint or varnish is dried, the thing is completely, utterly without value.

Not all systems are like that. An unfinished house can partially fulfill its purpose, for instance. Your business is an “unfinished” work, but it can still provide some financial support for you and your family.

I would suggest, however, that though your business is not an irreducibly complex system, the components you are inputting to improve its performance are.

An estimate can take hours to complete, but is useless until the final cost is included. A sales presentation, despite the hours it took to put together, just sitting on your desk won’t add a single sale. Your lawn signs, as pretty as they are, don’t attract a single eyeball sitting in your garage.

Why do we have unfinished projects sitting around at all? Projects that took time, energy, foresight and money sitting useless tell us something about ourselves if we are willing to look. Here are a few things they might be saying:

1. The project was a bad idea in the first place and you finally realize it. They sit around unfinished because you can’t admit it.
2. You are afraid that, once the project is done, it won’t delivery the results you desperately need. Finishing it and using it will expose the truth.
3. You have no faith in the usefulness of the project.
4. You are afraid the project will have the intended result and you will have to get serious about your business. As long as the project is in pieces, you don’t have to grow the business.

These possibilities overlap, the single theme being the project, once finished will expose something you prefer not to face. So, you want to grow your business? You want to be successful? Do the thing you fear most—finish the project and let it tell you the truth about yourself, your ambitions, your decision making and your future.