[WI] Perseverance Pays: Follow Through and Complete What You’ve Started

It’s easy to start with a bang, but not always that easy to follow through and finish.

It might be the pressure of the work load or just time or something else less strenuous you would like to do.

This must have has happened to you, and it might have left you feeling as if you have done something wrong and profoundly disappointed in your own abilities.

Things you have to do might sometimes be just too much or too difficult for the moment, regardless how much you would like to see the end result, and it’s easy to let it go.

But how do you fare when it comes to dig a little bit deeper until the job at hand is done and dusted?

What can you do to keep on going when you’re challenged in meeting your goal?

If you are someone who starts easily but struggles to follow through, here are 7 strategies that will help you to the end:

1. It might feel like you’re running a marathon and you’ll never get to the finish line. When that happens, just think of the end goal. That will remind you to simply keep going on . Slow down a bit and keep on working consistently towards your goal – keep on putting one foot forward at a time. This will improve your chances of eventually completing the task at hand.
2. Look back at what you’ve accomplished so far. Think of and take a look at some of the fruits of your efforts thus far. It will give you lots of motivation to keep going. If you’ve done 10% of the project the previous day or week or even hour, its 10% less than you need to do before finishing. Think about what you’ve already completed and keep it in mind – many people haven’t even come that far. And don’t forget you have left to do.
3. Remain positive. Remain focused on the positives ‒ it just makes it just so much easier to keep on going in the right direction. Being positive is a choice, so make the best of it. Emphasize all the positives.
4. Don’t short-side yourself and under-estimate what you need to finish. It’s happened to all of us, thinking we know how much energy and time we will spend to do something, but then find it takes just so much longer. Be bold when you have to guess how long it will take ‒ over-estimate and give yourself a little bit more time.
5. Promise yourself you will finish what you’ve started. Keep what you need to do in the forefront of your mind, think about why you want or need to do it, and then promise yourself to finish it. This will be the motivation you might need to keep going. Keep your nose to the grindstone and promise yourself you will stick with it until it is done. Then ‒ just do it.
6. Be aware of when you might need to tweak the results. Sometimes, when you get tired or loose a bit of steam, you might want to slightly change your end goal ‒ but think about it carefully. Sometimes situations do change. People change. But when it comes to those important long-term projects and goals, stay on top of it and be sure you know when it’s time to do make some changes.
   

• If the change is what you want, it’s fine ‒ just revisit your end goal, fine-tune it a bit, but most important of all, keep moving forward.

7. Break it up into mini-goals. If things get a bit much, it might be a good idea to break your main goal down into interim goals that might be easier to get done one by one. Think of studying for an exam – finishing one chapter at a time makes you feel good knowing you’ve accomplished that section of work, or a mini-goal. The momentum you gain is astonishing.

• Think of losing weight: Your main goal is to lose say 50 pounds. That’s mind boggling and might be overwhelming, but that’s how it works. You might feel you won’t be able to do it, and it is a challenge to get started. Now think of changing that to losing just five pounds for now?
• You have a very good chance of achieving that quite easily. Once you are successful, you can enjoy the moment, then set another mini-goal to lose another five pounds.
• Use these mini-goals to keep the momentum going and keep going forward bit by bit until you get to the end of the task

Being determined to finish can be the kind of challenge that’s worth conquering.

Be consistent and keep track of what you’ve managed to do so far.

Remain positive and don’t under-estimate the time or effort it will take to get there, but keep going.

A statue is chipped out of a big, solid chunk of granite one chip at a time.

Like a sculptor, be aware of what you’re doing all the time and keep the bigger picture in your mind.

Adjust your goal if you need to.

But before you give up, rather set some mini-goals to keep going until the end.

Your determination to finish will pay off!