How Do I Follow Through With My Plans?

After setting a goal then plan it. then comes the time to follow through with what you have planned.

For many of us, that’s where we can face a lot of problems and setbacks.

In this post, I’ll share 

-how to follow through with your plans and goals and 

-mistakes that might you be doing that lead you to not follow through

Buckle up and let’s get going

Steps to following through with your plans :

1-understanding your motive:

Why did you choose this goal, and why you will reach it no matter what

2-committing to reaching your goal and being the person who does that

which means that you are absolutely going after it and nothing would change that 

3-work on being the person who you need to be in order to achieve your goal

Identify that person: what does she think, what does she do, what are her values, what her beliefs,

how she acts, how she speaks, how she dresses,

how she feels about herself, how she feels about her business,…

then,

Be her everyday>>> read what you wrote daily and act from there

4-be consistent but not perfect 

Do the required work repeatedly and when your brain feels that you’ve done enough

most likely you didn’t or maybe it’s not the doing you need more of but who you are being

so, don’t forget to reflect and iterate 

5-reflect as you go

Review what you did and where it got you and then make changes

to your plan according to that and get back into action

6-mute/shut the noise and focus

The biggest enemy to following through is looking left and right

at what others are doing

then feeling discouraged about where you are

and thinking there’s something wrong with what you do.

It’ll lead you to stop working, get busy, and start looking for solutions when you already have the answers

and you only need to keep working on those answers/solutions until you reach your goal

it starts by accepting our human nature to compare and want things fast

then not making a big deal when that happen and

redirect our focus on what we are doing

7-learn what you need and sign off

If you think that you really need to learn X thing then learn it from one source

and don’t look around too much and waste your time looking for more answers instead of working

I know that being a high achiever and perfectionist will lead you to want

to find the best answers and that can only be done by searching more but

you can always look at what you are doing as an experiment

if what you learned and applied didn’t work you can change the way after you have tried

and if you are still not convinced i have a solution for you,

Search all you want but limit it with time then decide what you’ll do

8-know your obstacles aka enemies

What kind/type of self-sabotage that you tend to fall into?

When do you do it? How it makes you feel?

eg. Procrastination, overthinking, all or nothing, overcomplicating, having high standards….

 Then work on solving it and you don’t need to look around

I have a blog post where I share the common form of self-sabotage and how to get out of it here

9-Be Patient

It is Easy To Think That You’ve Been Doing It For a Long And Still Not Got The Results.

we humans are wired for instant gratification because back in the day we need it that to look for food and shelter fast

without them will die and won’t survive ( that was the reward)

so, that wiring still exists but it got missed up with what we see on social media

it’s not easy, I testify to that.

i find myself understanding one minute and only 2 weeks or less and i got impatient again.

I myself working on it and i know that is what i need right now

Mistakes that stop you from following through with your plans and goals

1-being perfect about it

You want to hit a perfect score in following through,

you don’t want to fall off the wagon

This is the same thing you do when building a new habit

instead accept the imperfection

that You won’t follow through perfectly all the time

as long you do it more often than not that’s the goal

That’s been true for me so, I know, don’t sweat it and start making these changes 

remember perfectionism is the mechanism to avoid feeling shame

from finding out that you’re inadequate, incompetent…

working on overcoming it will help you a lot in following through

2- waiting for fear, doubt, and discomfort to go away

After you have worked on yourself and got into a better place mentally and you are taking action.

In your mind (definitely was in my mind) I thought that I won’t feel that anymore

because I already worked on it(made sense in my mind)

but you’ll come to understand that won’t happen,

I am saying this to not discourage you but to let you know the truth

so, you won’t stop yourself when that happens instead knowing that is normal

That happens at every stage and in doing the things that you’ve already overcome it

which is why courage is your best friend that will help move toward anything you want

As one of my favourite entrepreneurs Leial Hoemaozie said “ successful people feel the fear and anxiety ..but they keep going anyway”

Nothing has gone wrong take a deep breath and keep going, you got this!!

3-giving yourself too much to do without proper self-coaching

AKA overwhelming yourself 

For instance

trying to be on different platforms, committing to posting more than you can right now,

and this feeling can be induced just by being in business

because you wear all hats at the beginning

what lead you to overwhelm is thoughts like

” I have too much to do, I don’t have time to do all of it, if I don’t have this program I won’t be able to do it, i don’t have tools to help me,

oh, what if I can’t come up with content, ohh, posting takes too much time, I don’t have time to do all …”

those thoughts will run the show and make you not follow through on what you planned

If You Aren’t Managing Your Mind

but If You Are,

1-You’ll Find A Way To Make It Happen Or Make Changes To Make It Happen

2-what can you do instead is to flip them and redirect your mind to thoughts that lead you to feel at ease and take action and find solutions and these thoughts can be simple

as” I committed to this and find the way to do it, there are people like me who have done it..”

and if it’s something new maybe you’ll feel uncomfortable at first.

fear not letting yourself experience this feeling will help you move forward

How do you do self-coaching? simple,

1- looking at what thoughts led to not following through and what these thoughts led you to feel

2-also, you can use the self-coaching method created by Brook Castilo

which is as follows identify the action you need to take, then backtrack to what are you thinking that stopping you then what this thought makes you feel

example of the self coaching model by Brooke Castilo

1st one is about what causes you overwhelm

Circumstance:

Thought: it’s too much, I can’t do it

Feeling: overwhelmed

Action: not posting 4 times per week

Result: not growing your account and not get visible to build your brand

then make a 2ed one with the desired result happening

Circumstances:

Thought: It’s Okay To Not Do It Perfectly Because No One Can, what I do is valuable,i can do this much

Feeling: inspired, at ease

Action: posting 4 times per week

Result: growing your account and not get visible to build your brand

4-burnout because of the pressure you put on yourself which leads to stress, anxiety then burnout

in turn will lead you to stop following through instead you need to prioritize rest and take things easy

How to not feel pressured?

1-plan properly read this to help you

2-manage your mind

3-take rest

5-confusing yourself when you already know

because things aren’t going fast enough or as you expected

instead, why don’t you look at it from a broader perspective time wise

Instead of looking for success within 30,60,90 days what

what if you focused on what could happen in 5 years if you commit to it.

success won’t happen overnight. go read mega-successful people’s stories and

you’ll find that it took years of hard work, dedication, and commitment to reach the success you see now

so, be patient you’re on the right track

finally, apply what you’ve learned to reap the benefits

comment your thoughts before you go

to your greatest success

Wafaa