Here’s Why You Never Follow-Through (And How To Fix It)

Snap it up, Q&A Tuesday coming at you. Oh, I just popped my dress.

Hey, it's Marie Forleo and you are watching Marie TV, the place to be to create a business and life you love, and this is Q&A Tuesday. Today's question comes from Andes, and he writes, "Hi Marie. Thank you for your inspiring Q&A Tuesdays." You are welcome. "I'm absolutely your fan. My Q is I'm usually starting different projects in business and personal development with great passion, but as a rule sooner or later I get bored with them. Could you advise on how to keep my sparkling eyes? Have a fantastic day, and thank you. Andes from Latvia."

Did someone say sparkling eyes? Andes, rocking question. I've heard this many different ways from all different people. Follow through is a habit, plain and simple. The reason you don't follow through is because you don't have the habit yet, and here's the good news. You can make it a habit, and here are three tips to get you going.

Tip number one, stop expecting your eyes to sparkle. There's this notion that the act of creation should be joyful and fun and full of pixie dust and fields of daisy diamonds. I don't even know what that means, but it's bull hickey. The act of creation is hard, Andes. You got to get this. It is hard, my brother.

Every creator I know struggles to finish things, and here's the deal. Most people are amateurs when it comes to creating, so unfortunately they quit before the work gets done. But not you Andes. You got to turn pro. You got to do the work, and do it until it's finished.

You want to know what my eyes do sometimes when I'm creating? They bleed, because it's freaking hard. Here's the deal. If you want to be successful at anything in life you have to follow through, and sometimes that means pushing through even when things are a little unsparkling.

Tip number two, start with your little balls. Take a look at how you roll throughout your day. For example, do you complete what you start, or do you have a bunch of half done messes all over the place? In other words, are you dropping the ball in all kinds of little ways?

Here's the deal, Andes. If you can't handle your little balls, what are you going to do with your big balls? So here's what I suggest. When you're writing an email don't half finish one and then start another one. Follow through. Complete one email at a time. Or when you're paying your bills don't pay some of your bills and leave the rest of the pile till later. Get it all done. It may sound trite, but important habits like follow through are built one small ball at a time.

But seriously, this is all about the compound effect of simple daily choices. When you commit to not dropping your small balls, your big balls handle themselves.

Tip number three, don't make it optional. Have you noticed that when you have to do something you just do it? Whether it's showing up for work or getting a project done for a client or getting your passport renewed, when you have no option you just get it done. You follow through.

The reason most of us don't follow through is because we give ourselves options not to. We think that a promise to ourselves doesn't count as much as a promise to someone else.

Now strap yourselves in, because here comes a massive tweetable. If you want to be responsible keep your promises to others. If you want to be successful keep your promises to yourself.

And now a bonus tip. Put yourself on a project diet. Let's be real here, can we? You and I both know that creative folk like us, we go on project binges. We walk up to the project buffet and think it's all you can eat. No, you are going on a project diet right now. You can only do one project at a time.

You cannot put anything else on your plate until you finish that one project. You've got to get in the habit of taking on one thing and finishing it before you take on anything else. In other words, step away from the buffet.

So there you go, Andes, your Q just got A'd. Now obviously there's a lot more we could talk about when it comes to follow through, but these strategies will definitely get you started.

Now I really want to hear from you. What's the single most effective strategy you've used to stay focused and follow through? As always, the best discussions happen after the episode over at marieforleo.com, so go there and leave a comment now.

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Stay on your game and keep going for your dreams, because the world needs that special gift that only you have. Thank you so much for watching and I'll catch you next time on Marie TV.

Your A just got Q'd. No. [inaudible 00:05:11]. Yeah. Oh, my voice cracked. Is it time to change?