When I was in school I distinctly remember the sensation I’d get when I was about 80% done with a test. I’d want to literally walk out and just leave it uncompleted. Never mind that this makes no logical sense at all, and that I’d want to quit when I was almost done. That’s just the point where I felt like I had done enough so I could move on to the next thing. Of course that’s no good for your test score.

I love starting new projects. Just ask my wife. At any given time my desk alone has a half dozen partially completed projects of it to say nothing of the garage or other work spaces. The feeling of diving into something new is one of the best parts to me. I don’t mind at all losing a whole day researching a new endeavor just to get the ball rolling on it.

The problem is, most things are useless until completed. It doesn’t do my readers any good if I have a great article 80% finished in my blog drafts. You can’t eat a dinner that is three-quarters finished. Probably no one cares that you started a marathon and finished 80% of it. Neat that you started the Whole30 but the program was designed for 30 days or it would have been called the Whole21.

Finishing is, at least in this writer’s experience, the hard part. Putting the finishing touches on it and saying “Yes, this is finished. Judge it world.”

Or seeing it through to the end when the novelty of a fresh start has worn off and you’ve suffered the monotony of The Work for a few weeks.

Now when I recognize that familiar feeling of wanting to walk away when I’m almost done (now that I think of it seems like a great time to go take the dogs for a quick walk) I recognize it and put my head down to finish.

Because unless you’ve lived such a remarkable life that people want to read your unfinished memoirs..

It probably doesn’t count unless you finish.

In Time Enough for Love, which is a wonderfully strange science fiction tale, Robert Heinlein describes a competent man:

“A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.”

I’m going to do my best to take on all of these, but for now one will do. And if you’re going to butcher a hog there’s no better way to do it than to turn it into porchetta, the Italian tradition of roasting a whole hog on a spit.

To learn how, you’re going to take a trip with me to Costano, Italy which is about five minutes from where I was born. Costano is known throughout Italy as one of the most famous towns in Italy for porchetta. As Murano is to glass, Costano is to porchetta.

Now, if you want to make porchetta at home but you’re not ready to go whole hog, here’s what you should do.

Ask your butcher for a pork belly, skin on, that’s about 5-6 pounds (you’ll want leftovers) and a tenderloin that’s roughly the same length as the pork belly is wide. Ask for some fresh liver as well.

Make up a mix of seasoning that is 24 parts salt, 2 parts pepper, and 1 part ground fennel. If you can get some sweet fresh wild fennel, use it!

Preheat your oven to 500ºF. Lay the belly skin side down, and season it generously with the spice mix. Add fresh sliced liver if you got it. Place the tenderloin in a third of the belly, and then roll it all up. You should have a tenderloin in the center and about two layers of belly at the thickest point.

Using kitchen twine, tie the roll of pork tightly so that it holds its structure throughout the cooking. When you’re finished, use a sharp knife to poke a few holes through the skin all around, one every few inches or so.

Roast the porchetta roll for 30 minutes before reducing the temperature to 300ºF. How long it takes to cook depends on thickness, not weight, but for a small home roast of this size you can expect about 2 more hours. Ideally, use a meat thermometer to make sure it’s 160º in the center. As the pros say, the pork is done when it’s done.

Let it rest and cool, slice, and serve with a sprinkle of salt.

 

If I could point out one single factor that will dictate how successful someone will be at whatever endeavor they choose it would not be:

– Talent
– Personal connections
– Mentorship or coaching
– Intensity of focus or dedication

While all of those things are certainly helpful, none of them actually matter if you don’t do the one thing that matters most: consistently show up and invest the time.

You’ve heard all the adages about what percent of success is just showing up already. So the real question is, how do I make it easier to show up more often?

The solution is to remove as many barriers to success as possible.

Want to work out more often? Find the closest gym with the least friction possible to join. Note that for most people that doesn’t mean a home gym. The ambition required to go work out in your own home is many times more than a place you can stop at on your way home from work.

Want to save more money (or do things that require you save money)? Automate the savings so that you don’t have to think about it, and it just happens. I wrote more about this here.

Want to make better food choices? Limit your choices by limiting what you have available at home. A pint of ice cream is always going to be an easier meal than grilling a steak and sauteeing some vegetables. But if you don’t have the ice cream and you already cooked the steak and veggies so all you have to do is warm it up, you’re probably going to make a better chioce.

Want to read more books? Set an alarm for 45 minutes before you typically go to bed. That gives you 15 minutes to wrap up whatever you’re doing, and 30 extra minutes to read every night.

Want to learn a foreign language? Make it impossible not to learn. Move to the country for a month. Can’t do that? I doubt it. Questions your assumptions. My friend Jason spent 2 full years living in Airbnbs all over the world and actually saved money relative to when he lived in Portland.

Whatever you want to do, examine the barriers that add friction or make it harder for you to show up and invest the time. Remove those barriers by making changes or automating them away. Sometimes the barriers are very clear and you can remove them. Sometimes there aren’t any real barriers and you’ll realize the only thing stopping you from writing the book you’ve always wanted to write is taking out your proverbial pen and paper and writing it. If you can’t figure out how to remove your barriers, email me your situation, I’m pretty great at it.

To your success,