Fortune in Follow Through

In the world of sports, the definition of follow through is: (like in golf, baseball, and other sports) to continue one's movement after the ball has been struck or thrown.

The strength or appropriateness of your follow through is what defines your greatness. Because it’s the follow through that, in great measure, determines the outcome of the throw, pitch, or shot.

But having spent a good portion of my adult life in teaching, training and coaching, I know that beginnings are easy. It’s following through, over the long haul, that truly defines not only our character, but our success. Below is a brief step by step guide to following through on what you start—and even before you begin!

These 5 steps are inspired by Motivation expert Steve Levinson, author of Following Through: A Revolutionary New Model for Finishing Whatever You Start.

1. Be honest with yourself about what you want—and why!

Levinson
:
Successful follow-through requires some up-front preparation, including understanding what the true goal is.

A.J.: I’ve written about this very concept in my ‘Maximizing Self’ blogs here on WikiOmni.

Be honest with yourself about what it is you want to attain or accomplish—and what your motivations are behind the desire. Whatever it is, make sure that you are leading with your heart and not your wallet. The greatest successes in our lives come through what we are inspired to achieve because it fulfills a need within us to do something significant for not just ourselves, but for others. These ideas come from “WE” thinking rather than “ME” thinking.

According to Levinson, when you’re honest about what you’re really seeking, you’ll be more motivated to do what it takes to get there.

2. Understand the sacrifice

Levinson: Every act takes away time or effort that could be committed to something else.

A.J.: I’ve written about planning and being proactive in your daily life. Plan ahead so that you know the steps or the activities you’ll be engaged in each day. The more proactive we are, the more we plan, the better we’ll be at reacting to the natural, organic, and unplanned for things that occur every day.

The more you plan, the better organized you are. Things that would normally clutter your mind are removed, leaving your mind more “present” in the now. This allows you to be more creative and more positively reactive in daily occurrences.

3. Prepare for success.

Levinson: “Just do it” just doesn’t cut it. Invest a little time and money into your future success. If you’re committed to following through, set up a system to make it easy to follow through.

A.J.: In ‘Maximizing Self’ I write about the 3 critical elements in setting up a good game plan.

1. Set your Long-Range Goal first. Set up your target so you know exactly what you want. This allows you to see how far you have to travel to get what you want. It creates a proper perspective.

2. Once the Long-Range Goal is set, then create Short-Term Objectives that will help you achieve your goal. These objectives should be easier to attain and, by their multiple successes, they end up cutting the long-range goal down to size. You should plan for as many short-term objectives as you think are necessary in helping you achieve your goal. Through your successes in achieving them, they inspire and motivate you to keep your head in the game.

3. Set up Regular Mid-Term Checkpoints to ensure that you are on track to complete your long-range goal by the deadline you set. If your objectives need to be altered to better align with your goal or its timing, then Checkpoints are the time to do this. Be encouraged if you need to alter your plan because you're finding out what works and what doesn’t. This is a good thing, so get excited!

Whatever your goal is, looking at the steps you’ll need to take and enlisting the tools and people you’ll need to help you get it done is a far more effective strategy than relying on sheer willpower.

Levinson: “Willpower is both a precious commodity and an unreliable one. You really can’t count on it. It often does not come through for you when you need it the most and the best thing to do is to structure circumstances so that you don’t need to rely on it.”

4. Incentivize yourself.

As you’re in the process of following through, use incentives and motivators to give you the kind of motivation you need when you need it. Levinson says his favorite story of the carrot and the stick is that of a guy who wanted to go to the gym more often, so he left his one stick of deodorant there. If he didn’t get up and go exercise in the morning, he was going to forego deodorant all day. That motivator may not be realistic for you, but you can always find ways to reward yourself when you achieve your short-term objectives or other milestones. Whatever you chose, make them appropriate to your achievement or your goal.

5. Keeping yourself accountable is good—but an accountability TEAM is better!

Enlist friends or colleagues to help keep you accountable to the promises you make to yourself and others with regard to follow-through.

I once had a workout partner who encouraged me to meet him twice a week for our sessions—at 5:00 in the morning. I had to get up around 4:20 to get to the gym by 5. I would never have made that kind of commitment for just myself. The last thing I wanted to do was to get up before the sun to workout. It was the power of accountability that got me out of bed. If I didn’t, I’d be letting him down and myself. That’s the power of having a team behind you. A team of people who care enough about you to push you when they see you faltering in your commitment

Levinson: “The problem with follow through originates from the fact that the promises we make are not serious in the first place.” Raise the stakes by sharing them with others and you’ve suddenly got something to prove in order to keep your word.

A.J.: Making a commitment is comparatively easy when matched against following through. It is easy to give our word. Unfortunately, it’s even easier to break—especially to ourselves. But there’s much more “face” to lose when we have a team of people we have to tell that we’re giving up. The prospects of that difficult disclosure make staying in the game look easier!

There you have it. 5 easy(?) steps to achieving your life goals by setting expectations and following through to meet them.


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