Thought Distillery

Ok - I admit it: I am a procrastinator. Commitments to others are almost always finished at the last minute. Worse yet, commitments to my self are sometimes started and then shelved indefinitely. Some of you may know what I’m talking about - those piles of unfinished projects, half-baked ideas, and unrealized goals speak volumes. At the present I’m fed up with myself in this area, so I immediately snatched up a book that I saw in hopes to shed some light on this common shortcoming.

Following Through: A Revolutionary New Model for finishing Whatever You Start is the book, and I’m impressed with its contents. It covers two main areas. First it explores the whys of our tendency to not follow through. Second it describes several strategies that we can use to better act upon our intentions.

To answer the why question, the authors present a very original and compelling argument that a certain characteristic of human nature can actually preclude even the most strong willed and self-determined individual from accomplishing their intentions. I won’t steal their thunder, but it is refreshing to be reminded that there is more to accomplishment than simply the will and the guts to make something happen. After all, in reality very few things we commit to provide enough internal burning desire to compel us to see them through. If we didn’t have bosses or family members to prod us along, most tasks would never be accomplished!

The strategies presented are mostly things that we’ve heard before and some are common wisdom. However, placed within the context of the underlying follow through problem they take on a whole new light. Strategies such as “strike while the iron is hot” and “leading the horse to water” should sound familiar. Also what they call “willpower leveraging” is basically just acting in advance to make it more difficult for you to mess up later. (Like intentionally avoiding the cookie isle at the grocery to prevent any temptation) One of the more interesting strategies is the one they entitle “going too far”. A women who had problems laying off the donuts at work used this by saying to herself that if she wanted “just one” donut, then she had to eat at least two. Paradoxically, the commitment to over indulge was enough to curb her desire to indulge completely.

This entry touches on just a few of the insightful and useful ideas presented in the book. Already I’m putting a few strategies to work (striking while the iron is hot with the typing of this entry) and have scheduled times this week to begin using more. At this point, I’m not making a new commitment to anything - even these strategies. One very valuable piece of advice was to carefully consider any new intentions. Recklessly taking on new intentions just sets us up for failing to follow through with most of them. Like a string of broken promises, there is no credibility with an approach like that.