Success is a system that starts with deciding. Deciding and committing to following through with your decision. The key is in how you come to the decision. If you decide without consulting your values, without listening to your intuition, or without considering thoughtfully what effort you’ll have to put forth or what sacrifices you might have to make to follow through, you might commit to doing something that you aren’t ready or willing to complete.
We’ve all committed to doing something that, somewhere along the way, we gave up on. Some of us are in the habit of doing this regularly. You might not think there is harm in committing to something and then not following through, especially when you’ve only committed to yourself, when you will leave no one else hanging as a result. But this is not true, on its face it might seem so, but when you commit to do something, even just to yourself, and then don’t, this break in your integrity chips away at your belief in yourself, it starts to corrode your self-confidence. The more often you allow yourself to do this the more you wear away at your self-esteem. A dull unease, that you might not even recognize as guilt or shame, begins to settle in and negative self-talk enters your mind. When you don’t follow through on something you’ve told someone else you would, and your lack of follow through impacts them, this dull unease is magnified and bad blood can be created between you and the other party(ies) involved. People begin to view you as undependable, flighty, or lacking in integrity.
So what can you do if you struggle with following through on the decisions you’ve made? Below are Seven Steps to More Consistent Follow Through:
Before making a decision, ask yourself (and answer) the following:
- What does my gut tell me I should do or decide?
- What does my head tell me I should do or decide?
- What value(s) will be served in deciding to move forward with this decision? Is it a decision that allows me to run from something I want to avoid or move positively toward something I truly desire?
- What must I sacrifice in order to follow through on my decision (time, money, energy to learn something new, the effort to work through fear, etc.)
- If I don’t take this action, what could that result in?
- Do I truly want to invest in following through? Is this action in alignment with my values and intuition? Is it worth the commitment of resources listed in step #4? Is the pain of not taking the action worse than the pain involved in taking the action and following through?
Then, more confident in your next steps
- Decide! Commit to taking action or not taking action. Then communicate the decision to yourself and anyone else involved.
Use these questions each time you have a decision to make and each time you have to recommit to something (when you are considering throwing in the towel). Sometimes circumstances change, and that is okay. If you decide to stop moving forward on the course you committed to previously, it is vital that you tell yourself and others who will be affected, what your new decision and commitments are, and why you had a change of heart. This will help preserve your relationships.
About the author: Patricia Brooks is a speaker, life purpose coach, and author of Growing Bold: How to Overcome Fear, Build Confidence, and Love the Life you Live. She is currently living in France and experiencing her dream.
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