THE LOST ART OF FOLLOW-THROUGH PART 1
Do What You Say You Will Do
Hi again! I couldn’t help but write another blog post on something meaningful and its because of everyone who took the time to read my first post from last week here. I want to THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart! I received nothing but positive feedback and its given me another good jolt of energy needed for me to continue with this endeavor. It’s encouraged me to follow-though on my commitment to blogging.
As I stated from the beginning, what kept me from blog writing initially was my questioning if I could really commit to writing on a consistent basis. It’s my goal to release a new posting every 3 weeks. And to be be honest, up until Tuesday I had a hard time putting a finger on which direction I wanted to take post #2. At first I wanted to stick with something expected and safe like giving you guys a general bio info writing my growing up, generic details and as well as a couple other side topics. There will be a day for that particular avenue, however for this 2nd post, it just didn’t feel right. I’m thankful I’m not the kind of person who believes in keeping everything basic. So it finally occurred to me that I should write about follow-through. What a better topic to discuss right now.
I’m not sure about anyone else, but do you feel like follow-through has gotten lost? So many of us talk about our aspirations and plans for the future. I’m not against processing those aspirations and ideas, however I can’t help but wonder how many of us spend a good amount of time daydreaming about what we would like to do, where we would like to go, what we’re reaching for, only to not actually follow-through with it.
Call me old-fashioned and rigid, but I’d like to think of myself as the kind of person where if I say I’m going to do something or reach for a goal, I’m going to do everything I can to see it through. If you’re feeling uncomfortable at my pointing out lack of follow-through and then reading about how I’m a man of action, let me back-pedal and just disclaim that I’m NOT perfect at this and sometimes I drop the ball too. In fact, I’ve noticed with myself that I struggle more with getting to an appointment exactly on time. I somehow always seem to arrive at exactly the time I’m supposed to be somewhere or 5 minutes late. You might laugh and think that’s petty, but it genuinely bothers me. I don’t like making promises no matter how big or small they that I can’t keep and I certainly don’t like being late.
I’m saying all of this because I feel like we like in this day and age, we have somewhat lost the art of timely follow-through on pretty much everything. I find it quite ironic because all this modern technology we have at our disposal like phones with calendars, reminders and alarm clocks. These things are actually supposed to perfect our ability to multi-task and be on ball. Yet to no seemingly no avail. It’s as if being a person of their word and punctuality has become an archaic idea. I personally blame it on a couple different factors: First, I’m seeing a growing pattern of our culture’s addiction to busyness. We have this idea that we can logjam every second of our day and then take a figurative sweep and accomplish everything we had scheduled. But things happen that aren’t in our plans and it throws everything off. Second, I also see a growing lack of intentionality in our everyday lives. We go through life in motions and mindless routines without any real thought and honest heart into our tasks, relationships and work. It’s as if we have settled for the motion and redundancy, only to leave the purpose and vision by the waist-side. Where’s the fulfillment in that? I’m sorry. Maybe that is good enough for most people. But for me, that’s not enough. I want everything I’m doing to be purposeful. And I personally believe that if people actually knew their purpose, they wouldn’t be so quick to settle so much.
At some point, we have to we have to stop and honestly ask ourselves this question: What if we paused for a moment, thought about the vision behind our plans, systems and work ethics? I honestly wish I could finish all my thoughts on this blog but there are so many details and points that I find it much more proper to divide The Lost Art of Follow-Through into multiple parts. I hope this has nudged you to reflect on your own commitments and even your lack thereof. Sometimes there are legitimate life circumstances that stunt our ability to follow-through on our intentions. Sometimes its our own selves that are just getting in the way. Whether it be specific business plan, simple follow-up email with that good connection we met at last night’s networking event, or just personal life goals, we can all get better at follow-through.
Much love,
Joe Gardonis
PS Stay Tuned for Part 2