Follow-through means accomplishing what you commit or plan to do in the best manner within a set time. When we make a commitment, we are always super-enthusiastic about making it happen. But when things become difficult, part of that enthusiasm fades away for most of us.

We can start feeling a bit defeated and consequently give up honoring the commitment. Whether it is in our personal life, job or business, follow-through on commitments is the key to success and prosperity.

“Your values, beliefs, commitments, desires and your words should always resonate with your actions and behaviors. To have a smooth life, a successful career or a skyrocketing business, follow-through is inevitable.”

Importance of Follow-Through

The importance of follow-through can never be emphasized enough. In business, meeting deadlines, honoring commitments, growing staff, tracking projects and maintaining relationships, all demand constant follow-through. To be sure you are heading in the right direction towards your goals, you can put metrics in place towards your commitments. Failure to follow-through, can result in business failure and worse, the loss of valuable trusted relationships.

Living up to your commitments is helps you earn credibility. It is something people notice immediately about you. If you mean what you say and do what you committed to doing, you will earn trust and respect from people.

On the other hand, if you don’t follow-through on your words, people will soon stop caring about what you have to say. For leaders, this behavior can translate into utter disappointment for the employees, and disengagement.

When you make a commitment, people take it as a promise and expect the commitment to be fulfilled in time. They rely and count on you for the accomplishment of that responsibility.

“Following-through on your commitments makes you more dependable and reliable.“

In case you fail to follow-through on your commitments, you often have to face consequences. Lack of follow-through translates into loss of trust that can cause the loss of friendships, and relationships. In business it can mean a demotion or even the loss of a job.

Follow-through is associated with self-discipline. If you do what you are supposed to do within the timeframe you promised, you develop discipline and develop the value of integrity.

When you are known as a person of high integrity, you give off the vibe of contentment and satisfaction, and responsibility becomes a source of happiness instead of a choir or burden.

“Whether it is personal or professional, follow-through plays an important role to build and maintain relations.”

How to Develop Follow-Through

The way to develop more follow-through is to first of all be careful about your commitments. We often fail to follow-through because our commitments are beyond our capabilities. Consider what it will take to fulfill a commitment before you say yes.

If you struggle with remembering things, technology can provide you with multiple ways and tools to keep track of your commitments. Scheduling software and calendars can be useful to remind you of meetings, project deadlines, certain milestones of your business or even personal life commitments. If you are perpetually overbooked, use productivity apps to manage your commitments. Or you can paste post-it-notes around to remind you of your deadlines.

Some people spend a lot of time developing a vision for their future. Story boards, and vision boards can do wonders to help you imagine a future you want to step into. Having friends who encourage you and family who believes in you, is great. When it comes to vision, without follow through it stays in a state of potential.

Even when it comes to practicing the law of attraction, it works with concerted effort. Efforts that require consistent, persistent follow-through on your committed goals. 

To activate a positive follow-through mindset, you can create a mantra for yourself. Saying to yourself things like “I deserve success and I am willing to do what it takes to achieve my goals, and I am committed to grow” can have the power to create a strong belief. You will need to repeat such a mantra several times daily, for at least 90 days in order for that belief to become your way of being.

The law of attraction, beliefs and vision will only get you so far, there is another step you must follow.

In addition to strengthening your beliefs with mantras, you can use the carrot and stick policy to hack your mind. You do this by focusing on what motivates you. Your motivation can spring out of a fear of losing something very precious to you if you fail to follow-through, or it can be a reward that can keep you associated with your commitment until accomplishment. Make sure that this motivation is strong enough to keep you going regardless of the struggles or hurdles.

In my coaching session with Eric Faison, Founder of Hoop News, we uncovered how he can have a stronger commitment to follow-through.

I’d like to invite you to listen to our coaching session. If you’ve been looking for tips on how to stop procrastinating and develops stronger follow-through skills, you’ll find them in this podcast episode.

Just click on the play button to listen to the podcast right here.