I’m at the gym, crushing my cardio and watching New Girl. Season 4, Episode 15: The Crawl. (If you want a full synopsis, click here.)
In this episode, Nick is obsessed with completing a bar crawl (which is conveniently shaped like a smiley face) to move on from his breakup with Kai. As the night goes on, he gathers a ragtag crew of drunken companions, all determined to finish the crawl.
But as they near the end, a bartender informs Nick that he won’t make it to the final bar before closing. In a drunken yet oddly inspiring moment, Nick turns to his comrades and bellows:
“WE WILL FINISH WHAT WE HAVE STARTED! WE WILL FEAST ON THE SPOILS OF THIS NIGHT FOR A THOUSAND MOONS!”
And with that, they charge toward the last bar.
There’s something you should know about me: I have a habit of latching onto the silliest phrases and repeating them to myself endlessly. Sometimes, it’s motivational. Sometimes, it’s funny. More often than not, it’s just incredibly stupid.
For example, there was a time when I would shout, “Franks and Beans!” every time I entered my apartment. My logic? If an intruder was hiding inside, they’d hear it and laugh, giving themselves away.
When I was going through my divorce many moons ago, I clung to a line from a William Wordsworth poem:
“We will find strength in what remains behind.”
You get the picture.
So that night, while running on the treadmill, fully invested in Nick’s pub crawl, I found an unexpected sense of inspiration in that phrase:
WE WILL FINISH WHAT WE HAVE STARTED.
You know those moments in the gym when everything just clicks? The right song plays, your energy surges, and suddenly, you feel unstoppable?
This was one of those moments.
Sure, the premise was ridiculous—a drunken bar crawl—but something about that phrase resonated with me. It woke up a part of me that had been dormant for a long time.
Here’s where this post takes an ironic turn.
Everything up to this point was written in one sitting. But then, life interrupted, and I had to stop. Now that I’m back, I barely remember where I was going with it.
And maybe that’s the point.
We start things with enthusiasm. The excitement of something new fuels us. But once the novelty fades, so does the motivation. We become like a dog chasing cars—forever in pursuit, never catching anything.
If you want to finish what you start, discipline is key. You have to know why you’re doing it. Because when the excitement wears off, that why is the only thing that will keep you going.
Nowhere is this more obvious than in health and fitness. If you’re like me, this cycle might sound familiar:
- Eat with reckless abandon, ignoring all consequences.
- Gain weight and feel miserable doing even basic tasks.
- Spiral into self-loathing until you can’t stand yourself anymore.
- Vow to start eating right and exercising.
- Lose 10 pounds, feel better.
- Forget why you started.
- Fall back into old habits.
- Lather, rinse, repeat.
I’ve repeated this cycle more times than I care to admit.
There’s no greater feeling than losing 30–40 pounds and feeling strong again. And there’s no worse feeling than stepping on the scale and realizing you’ve gained it all back—and then some.
The last time that happened, I weighed 270 pounds. I helped my dad move a couch and got so out of breath I thought I might die. I sat down on that couch, disgusted, and made a decision:
I was not going to die a fat, out-of-shape drunk.
That was three years ago. Today, I’m in the best shape of my life. I’ve lost 50 pounds. I fixed my chronic back pain through stretching and core work. I’m weaning myself off the daily heartburn pills I thought I’d need forever.
Fitness isn’t just a phase anymore—it’s a way of life.
Some people are motivated by pleasure. Others by pain.
I realized I had a choice of pain:
- The pain of pushing myself through a tough workout.
- Or the pain of being out of breath just walking to my car.
Frustration got me back on track. But frustration alone won’t keep you going. It’ll push you just far enough to relieve the frustration, and then you’ll start the cycle over again.
If you want to break the cycle and truly finish what you start, you need a positive, inspiring, and deeply personal why. Something that will push you through the sweat, the pain, and the moments where quitting seems easier.
I’ve never fully written mine out before, but here it is:
I want to be strong and feel good. I want to be the old man who outruns his grandkids. I want to be happy, full of joy, and full of energy.
That’s it. Simple. But powerful to me. Especially the part about outrunning my grandkids. When I imagine myself at 80, I don’t see someone confined to a chair. I see a man climbing mountains, swimming in rivers, still chasing adventure.
And when the workout gets tough, I hold onto that vision.
I remind myself: This is why I came.
The sweat, the struggle, the burning lungs—none of it matters compared to the future I want.
So take a hard look in the mirror. If you’re sick of feeling like crap, I have one request:
Shout this in your best drunken Nick Miller voice—
WE WILL FINISH WHAT WE HAVE STARTED!