There’s a piece of Talmud read each year at the Passover seder, Mishna Pirkei Avot 2:21, in which Rabbi Tarfon explains:

“It is not incumbent upon you to finish the task. Yet, you are not free to desist from it.”

Which, in my mind, is the crux of so much of life – from the very small (why we procrastinate) to the exceedingly large (why we stand by apathetically while genocides rage in places like the Sudan).

As we can’t imagine finishing, we don’t even begin. Yet, as I often say in regards to entrepeneurship, there are only two steps – start, and keep going – and you lose most people at the first step.

So, whether you’re Jewish or not, take heed of Tarfon’s wisdom, and take advantage of this time of year to reflect where it might apply to your own life: you don’t have to finish, but you do have to start.