Decades ago when I played Little
League Baseball, one of the phrases screamed at me the most was “You have to
follow through!” I’d swing, but the
minute my bat hit the ball - or didn’t - my arm would cease its forward
motion. I mean, to my lazy mind I hit
the ball, task completed. Wasn’t that
the point? To connect aluminum rod to
the small leather sphere and send it forward?
Once that was accomplished, why exert the continued energy of swinging
my arm the rest of the way? It seemed
like quite a bit of wasted effort to me.
Not to my coach, however, who also happened to be my father. Soon, I was either following through with my
swing, warming the bench, or grounded. I
didn’t want to play anyway, so I sat in the dugout and kept score.
When it comes to accomplishing
their dreams or goals, this is where most people fail. They simply do not have the follow through. When they get an idea, they go off like a
bottle rocket, full of excitement and energy.
Yet, after that sudden bang, interest fades and they set aside what they’ve
accomplished for a new idea that fills them with that adrenaline rush of
excitement again. Soon their lives look
like the bottom drawer of my desk, full of half finished projects and good
intentions.
I’ve known a couple of people
like this. They get a fantastic idea and
are filled with enthusiasm as they start planning how to bring it to pass. They’ll spend money buying supplies and tools
to get them started in their new business venture with dreams of being their
own boss. They’re excited and constantly
rambling on and on about how they’re going to make it and they illicit tons of enthusiastic
support. That is, until they figure out
that their dream requires work, sweat, and effort. Once the excitement of a new idea turns to
the actual labor, they shelf it and start talking about the next great entrepreneurial
endeavor. It’s as if it’s the rush of
the new idea alone they crave, not the fulfilling of a dream.
What kept these people from
reaching their goals was a lack of follow through. You cannot just stop with a conversation
about your idea or jotting a plan down.
It’s more than purchasing equipment or reading books on the
subject. The success is in the follow
through.
For the longest time in my
writing this was exactly my problem. I
had plenty of story ideas and article concepts.
I had notebooks full of background information and character histories
and the enthusiasm of creating new worlds with exotic people. What I didn’t have was the focus to see many
of the ideas through to the words “The End.”
I would start a novel, get about half way into it and then another idea
would excite me more and the one I was working on would get tossed to the side
to “finish after I completed this new one,” which of course would never happen
as another one would catch my fancy. It
wasn’t until I swung my arm all the way through that my stories went where I
wanted them to - to print.
Almost everyone has a dream,
something that gets them excited when they think about it and talk about
it. However, what too many don’t have is
the drive to see it all the way to the end in order to be successful. They can’t control their focus long enough to
get an idea out of the planning stage and they waste too much money on things
that are going to get dusty in the attic.
The only way to hit your dream out of the ballpark is to follow through
on your swing. Don’t give up too early,
because this just may be the homerun your life is waiting for.
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