Why is it so hard to follow through?

We’re two months into the new year. It is a time when positive energy abounds, resolutions are starting to become a distant memory, business plans are reset and countless articles have been written and eagerly devoured giving us myriad advice, guidance and life hacks on how to make sure we actually carry through with those plans and goals made throughout the beginning of the year.

But  why is it so hard to carry through with these commitments? Broader than a new years resolution, the majority of us make plans both professionally and personally, have ideas and dream of achieving things of varying extents each day of our lives. And yet we seldom see these plans, ideas and goals come to fruition.

Is there too much going on?

Each of us are pulled in innumerable directions, trying to maintain social appearances, balance professional with family commitments all while setting goals which achieve an outcome moving us along a pathway which helps us grow professionally and personally as individuals. Is it possible there is just too much going on to achieve everything we hope? Perhaps it’s a matter of priorities, sifting through all the option and getting focused, starting with one plan to implement, idea to broaden, or goal to achieve - those you would hate to see someone else implement and run with successfully - the ones where you would sit back and think “it should have been me”.

Call to action

Reflecting on times where I have followed through and achieved something out of the ordinary either in my professional or personal life, the starting point has always manifested in some sort of ‘call to action’, an opportunity to challenge the status quo. Identifying an opportunity at work, seeing things from a different perspective to your peers, knowing that a relationship has run past it’s use-by date, or even a feeling that brilliant idea you had late at night could materialise into something much bigger if properly implemented. We are ultimately faced with two options when receiving the “call to action”:

1. maintain the status quo - and do nothing
2. hear the call and take active steps to make it happen.

Tell the right people

Creating a sense of accountability ensures you have a reason to follow through, it gives others an opportunity to be excited about what you’re setting out to achieve and in turn provide a source of motivation and often collaboration.

But don’t just tell anybody, ensure you are telling the right people. There is no point bringing an innovative plan to change the operations of a business to a superior who is resistant to change or unsupportive of alternate points of view. Likewise sharing your new business plan with those friends that are happy in the 9 to 5 domain ‘working for the man’ are less likely to help you on your way to taking that leap into starting your own business.

Tell the people that can support you in achieving results, it may mean side stepping your superior in the office, or connecting with people outside of your ordinary social network, but I can guarantee it’s easier to make things happen once the commitment to complete goes beyond you  as an individual.

Hold yourself accountable - write yourself a letter

Keeping the momentum once you’ve committed to an undertaking is often the most challenging part of implementing a plan or achieving a goal. An effective technique I’ve used both personally and with coachees seeking promotions is to write yourself a letter. This may sound simplistic, but it is a different kind of letter and a technique that helps set out what you will have done to be successful.

If the plan or goal is to be completed in a year's time then write yourself a letter at that point in time (i.e. dated 4 March 2017). Imagine that you’ve already accomplished the goal or implemented the plan which will save the business millions of dollars - describe in the letter all the things you did to achieve success. It’s not a letter that is written now with all the things you “will do”, the focus is to reflect and fully articulate the tasks and steps performed to achieve successful implementation. The change in perspective when writing the letter from a "what we will do" to "what we have already done" is sure to provide different results, it’s like you’re writing to yourself with the benefit of hindsight!

It’s better to have a seat at the table

Our plans, ideas and resolutions aren’t always a success. In business it’s almost always better to be known as the person that has a go at doing something different, takes the first critical steps to actually implementing a plan - even if the result isn’t as forecast. The person that talks about accomplishing things but never takes actual steps to implement them often finds themselves leapfrogged in the workplace and left behind by peers - frustratingly watching as others run with those very same ideas and progress forwards in their careers and personal life.

The world and workplace is changing at such a rapid pace that there often isn’t time to sit on an idea to fully think it through for three years, three months or even three weeks. The only real option is to take notice of that call to action, get out there and tell the right person about it and see that plan or idea through before someone else does.