Follow Through

I've had that Gavin Degraw song stuck in my head. And not because I've heard it recently. I've been thinking about following through. But Gavin isn't the one who sparked the idea. It was Gillian.

On Friday nights we trade babysitting with Gillian and Jonathan. Every other week they go on a date and I sit in their very orderly and homey living room while their boys sleep. Over time I've noticed two things.

1: their grand piano never has dust on it.

2: a new project is always done.

One week she had sown pillowcases. Another week they painted a table for their porch. For several weeks they were reading, buying for and preparing their first ever vegetable garden. The most impressive part is the projects are always completed.

I go home and look around. It doesn't take long to see how I do not follow through:

- dishes constantly left in drainer and not put away before used again

- mending and "to bleach" piles sitting...for months.

- October: family pictures taken, April: picture frames purchased, ?: order the prints

The non-follow through attitude is not so troubling when it comes to taking dishes from drainer. But it is alarming when that attitude spills into more important areas. Like e-mailing. Or acting on impressions I've received. I often fall into the "danger of 'someday'" trap.

I perplexedly told Ben my realization. "I don't follow through!" He made a suggestion: instead of looking for all the instances you fall short, decide to see it as, "Look, I can improve by following through with this."

Okay. To do this I think I have to pinpoint why I stop before getting to the finish line.

Sometimes it's not wanting to giving effort to the last 10% of the task.

Sometimes it's not wanting to put forth the first effort.

Sometimes it's lack of energy.

Oftentimes it's motivation. "I can always do it later..."

Oftentimes there's something else I'd rather do.

Oftentimes it's wanting someone else to make the decision, or show me how to do it, or even tell me when to do it.

And many times there's also a dash of fear I won't do it right.

Now I have the causes identified, so time for the list. (There always has to be a list you know.)

It will be a list of weekly progress---tasks I wanted to put off but followed through with, no matter how small. To pressure myself to follow through with it I'll report back in a week with how it goes.

Truth be known, I've been meaning to make this list for 3 days. I still have yet to do it. I will make it now, before I post or it will surely never happen!

Done!