I decided over 40 years ago that I would make it my life’s work to shed light on the nearly universal problem of poor follow through. Well, I’m still at it. And although I’ve learned a ton about what it really takes to follow through, I remain as perplexed as ever about one thing: People – and society as a whole – don’t take following through as seriously as they should.
I confessed in a previous post that although I’m proud of the follow through strategies I’ve developed over the years that enable people who use them to consistently make good on their own good intentions, I’m aware — painfully aware — that these strategies won’t do much good for people who don’t actually use them. And I’m also painfully aware that not everyone who learns them will use them.
It’s impossible to talk about following through without acknowledging the elephant in the room. I mean no offense by this, but the elephant in the room is YOU!
That’s right, you’re the elephant. And you’re also the elephant trainer.
It’s unfortunate that when what we’ve intelligently decided we should do is at odds with what we FEEL like doing, what we FEEL like doing often wins.
I’ve been accused before of having a cynical view of the way the human mind works. That’s because I flatly reject the widely accepted notion that the human mind is a perfectly designed achievement machine.
I have a confession. Although I’ve spent years helping people improve their ability to follow through, I’ve never found a way around this paradox: To follow through a lot, you have to be able to make yourself follow through just a little — just enough to take the first easy step. Sadly, I have yet to figure out how to make someone take that first easy step.
As a psychologist who’s spent decades helping people improve their ability to follow through, I’m often asked this question:
“Doc, if you could give people just one piece of advice, what would it be?”
My answer usually goes like this: “Take your intentions seriously.”