The Paradox of Following Through Better

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.

Imagine you’ve been assigned a huge project that will require you to spend dozens of hours doing extremely unpleasant work. Ugh!

While fretting about how in the world you’re going to make yourself do what needs to be done, you learn from a credible source that there’s a way you can get the whole job done in a flash and without hardly any effort at all. All you have to do is flip a special switch that’s cleverly hidden in a utility closet. Wow!

Easy isn’t always easy enough

Sounds like an awfully good deal, right? Well it certainly is. BUT only if you can make yourself open the closet door and flip the switch!

And so it goes with following through. We can teach you proven strategies and give you tools that will allow you to follow through easily and consistently. But we can’t make you use those strategies and tools. Honestly, we would if we could. But we can’t.

Here’s the paradox

This is the paradox of following through better: You have to make yourself follow through a little so that you can follow through a lot!  

I’ve struggled for years to find a way around the follow through better paradox. But I’m still searching for that silver bullet that would make people take that easy first step — just open the closet door and flip the darned switch — that would allow them to consistently get the really hard stuff done.

I hope this helps

For now, the best I can do is tell you the truth and hope it helps: People who make themselves use follow through strategies and tools are thrilled with the results!