How to follow through

You’ve allowed yourself to think big. 

You’ve set a goal.

You’ve figured out the main steps you have to take in order to reach that goal. 

You’ve even scheduled a set time to do what needs to get done. 

And then that time comes and ... you don’t do it. Or if you begin, you don’t accomplish nearly as much as you'd intended to. 

You want to succeed. You believe you can succeed—or at least some part of you does (it’s totally normal to having conflicting beliefs about what’s possible for you). So why aren’t you following through? 

The answer might surprise you.

It’s not because you’re a procrastinator. Or because you’re lazy. It’s not because you’re using crappy systems, picked a bad project, or got the wrong information from your parents/university/writing instructor/coach. 

It’s because you’re human. And humans are hard-wired to seek comfort and conserve energy. Even if you're super excited about your goal, know exactly what you need to do, and might even have taken those same steps in the past, your brain is probably overestimating how hard it will be and how awful it will feel. Which keeps you from taking action.

Which is to say: the reason you don’t follow through is because you’re trying to avoid discomfort. That’s literally it. 

Isn’t that great news? You don’t have change your Myers-Briggs results or spend months doing neurofeedback. You can override your instinct to not follow through by simply acknowledging that you're buffering. 

Buffering is a fancy word for anything you do in order to avoid doing what you’re supposed to be doing. (If you can put the word “over” in front of an activity—think over-drinking, over-sleeping, over-eating, or over-browsing—it’s probably buffering.)

Even better? Research shows that naming self-sabotaging behaviors allows us to go back to making rational, productive decisions. So the next time you realize you’re not taking action to move toward your goal, say to yourself, “Oh, I’m just trying to avoid discomfort.” 
 

Then remind yourself that you can handle a little discomfort … and get back to work.