What exactly is finishing what you start and following through? You may have heard these phrases before, but what do they mean? To me, they mean making your intentions a reality. Too often we'll say we'll do something, and we might even start it one lucky weekend. But the first sign of hardship, fatigue, boredom, or busyness, we abandon it all too easily. Now, finishing what you start and following through is breaking through that common loop and taking hold of your life. So today I'm going to tell eight steps that would help you create a template for helping you finish what you start. So please bring in your pen and paper and note down all the steps. Till then, I shall wait for you. Hello all, I'm Kapilgupta, founder of Study Abroad Academy. I'm on a mission to coach and mentor 100,000 high school students and help them realize their dream of studying in the best universities of the world and build happy careers for themselves. Today I am going to introduce you to an 8-steps template. I believe all of you are ready to note down the steps. So let's get started. If you need to pause the podcast to note down, please do that. Step 1. Just execute. Now let's begin this with Anamica's story. She has thought about it a million times. She was stuck in a desk job for the past 10 years. She'd always fantasized about not having to do such monotonous paperwork, not having to work under an ill-tempered boss, and not having to leave all her fun activities. And how were such fantasies supposed to be realized? She had the answer. She figured she would begin her bonsai business right at home in her garden. Now it was all a fantasy, a thought that would appear on difficult days of work. But then one day she finally decided that she would be doing it. After all, it was her childhood dream to create beautiful bonsai. Her acquaintances have always encouraged her to take this hobby to a professional level. So her quest for freedom began and she applied for a two-week vacation to start testing the waters. She began with research, correct thing to do, tried thinking about all the tools that she would require to get the business going. She also planned to survey her friends in the entire neighborhood to get the feel of the market needs. It all began to take shape in her head. But unfortunately, everything only stayed there in her head and never found a way out. When her vacation began, she was doing other things that what she had earlier planned, like doing some pending home projects, catching up with friends and not even asking them for the market input. She was worried, thinking that people might find her too ambitious because at her age she had doubts. She wasn't able to deal with the idea of expectations hanging over her head. Finally, the vacation ended and she joined back her office with the bonsai business idea still under her head. Now, what do you think went wrong with Anamica? Did she lack focus, self-discipline, action, or persistence? Now, if you all say all of the above, you are actually pointing to just one concept, and that is following through. Following through is so awesome, why don't we all just do it all the time? The short answer is because it's hard. And the long answer you'll realize now. So the art of following through is something that allows you to create life that you actually want instead of settling for life you currently have. And this art has actually four paths focus, self-discipline, action, and persistence. Now let me remind you that there are powerful reasons behind this fact that we don't finish what we start and follow through very often. And these are our inhibiting tactics and psychological roadblocks. Now, what are inhibiting tactics? They are ways we plan against ourselves without even realizing it. They are like setting bad goals, procrastination, indulging in temptations and distractions, and poor time management. And psychological roadblocks are ways in which we are unconsciously protecting ourselves. And they are laziness, lack of discipline, fear of judgment, rejection and failure, perfectionism out of insecurity, and finally lack of self-awareness. Now imagine if Anamika was aware of all these barriers that were keeping her from following through. If she would have responded with the right tactics, she would be waking up excited to get to work with something she's passionate about. She would be living the life she had only dreamt of. Now, take a moment to consider the story of your own life. Are you following through on what you really want in life? Or are you constantly the victim of the same barriers that Anamica faced? If the answer is yes, then listen to the steps very attentively. So, step two, and that is staying hungry. Now, this is isn't staying hungry for food, it actually means staying motivated. Now there can be both external motivators and internal ones. Talking about external motivators, that is when we leverage other people, places and things to push us into action. Now these methods include accountability partners in groups, putting money down up front, and self-pribery. And what about internal ones? For them, we stand to benefit and improve our lives. These are like universal needs, drives and desires that are easy to lose track of. Now it's only through answering these questions that you realize what you are actually neglecting. So consider writing them down somewhere. Review the answers periodically to remind yourself what you or why you want to change. So anything we want to accomplish has an associated opportunity cost. We must sacrifice, even if it is an ability to lie on the couch and watch TV and even chips, eating chips. So deal with it by reviewing your cost-benefit analysis. Look for motivation all around you. As it is said that motivation works best when one is reminded of it. Right? So coming to step three, that is create a manifesto. But what a manifesto is, it's nothing more than a set of rules to follow every day. Now we might hate rules, but you won't disagree with me that they were give us guidelines also to follow. So they bring clarity to our actions. They show actually what we must do. For example, rule one can be are you acting out of laziness? But if that is so, you wouldn't want other people to know about this characteristic. Rule two plan three major tasks a day, maximum. That'll be enough. Rule three, create daily limitations and requirements for yourselves. Because these are the building blocks of good habits. Rule four can be sometimes we lose sight of what we wish to accomplish. Thus, reaffirm your intentions by stating, I want, I will, and I want statements. And I would say say them aloud to yourself. Go and stand in your bathrooms and say this to you, because you might want you never want people to know what you are up to, right? So you might feel embarrassed. So just give some time to yourself. And lastly, rule five can be try to look into the future. Maybe 10 minutes, maybe a few hours or days at a time. Because every time you feel distracted, just exercise willpower for a few minutes longer, and I'm sure you'll follow through. So, do you like what you see when you consider not following through? Probably not. So now coming to step four that is the follow-through mindset. See, following through is 100% mental. So it would be a good idea to talk about mindsets. But then what is a mindset? So we can say a mindset is a set way of visualizing and approaching situations and problems. Certain minds are it takes to find the will and motivation necessary to follow through on something. For example, one kind of mindset can be that okay, everything is all worthwhile. So if you feel that your hard work will get you somewhere, execution will definitely be easier. Now, second type of mindset can be that is become comfortable with discomfort. So everything you want to do will have elements of discomfort. Thus, becoming used to this feeling allows you to tackle what you want without fear. Then another kind of mindset can be that is without following through, there is no learning. So only when you finish something, you can evaluate yourself and correct your answers. And lastly, even being in a poor mood is dangerous to your productivity and follow through. So be aware and take proactive measures to modulate your stress levels. So we have completed four steps out of eight. It's great that you have been listening till now. So now let me give you a quick recap. So step one was that you have to stop thinking, just execute the plan. Step two, staying hungry. That is for motivation. Step three, create a manifesto, create a rule book. Step four, follow through mindsets, have a very positive mindset so that you can get along. So now let's move on to step five. Now this is the science of smashing procrastination. It is the action of delaying or postponing something. So you can beat it back for a bit, but it's so natural that you'll never be fully rid of it. The problem is typified by time inconsistency, where we have two selves that don't have overlapping desires. Now, one wants gratification in the future, and the other wants it right away. So temptation bundling can be an effective method to battle it. It can be done by combining your unpleasurable tasks with something pleasurable. So you give two kinds of selves what they want simultaneously. Then another way can be to begin easy and small. Try to make your path to motion and action as easy as possible and then gain momentum in due course. Because sometimes beating procrastination just requires a kick in the pants. Sometimes you're so afraid of the negative repercussions that you come into action mode. Then, step six, very, very important. That is create a no distraction zone. Minimize your distractions. This is like kicking your back. The point that I'm going to discuss now are really powerful. So let's continue. Because if you're constantly distracted, you succumb to temptations without even giving a chance to exercise your willpower. It just doesn't occur to you. And you choose the path of least resistance despite your best intentions. So don't keep anything stimulating near your workstation. Otherwise, your willpower will slowly deplete itself. Then create default actions wherever possible. Optimize your environment for self-discipline. Save your willpower and your energy by making positive changes to your environment. Free yourself from mindless pursuits of small pleasures. After all, why exercise willpower when you don't need to it if you can plan around it? Do one task at a time. Because when you switch from task to task, you take time to adjust to your new one and it hampers your mental efficiency. Now let's take an example. Set everything aside, not check monitor, email, or even touch anything other than the current task you are working on. Switch off your notifications, ditch your phone. If you are on your computer, keep only one browser tab or program open at a time. The biggest culprits are your electronic devices. Ignore them when possible and then see the result. And lastly, everyone knows about the to-do list. Yeah, you must have also heard from your parents, from your mentors. Everyone knows what they should be doing. However, not everyone knows what they shouldn't be doing. We all know the obvious evils to avoid when trying to upgrade productivity, social media or browsing the internet, isn't it? But a don't do list can be just as powerful as a to-do list. Now you can include tasks you can't move forward on, make progress on, or help. Then you can also use a 40-70 rule. This is when you beat in action through the amount of information you seek. Now let's say if you have less than 40%, then don't act. But you have 70%, you must act. You will never have 100%, and chances are 70% is more than sufficient to complete your task, and the rest you can definitely learn along the way. Right? Then coming to step 7, that is deadly pitfalls. Now there can be a massive number of mistakes that you could make that could cost you your progress. Now these can be many, but just to name a few are the more dangerous ones, so listen carefully. Now one is false hope syndrome. It's when you expect that you will be able to change or improve to an unrealistic degree. So when you fail, you get demotivated, and it's very natural also. So it's advisable to keep proper expectations and understand the difference between goals and expectations. And secondly, many do it, overthinking. Many people tend to do this before actually getting down to work or take the first step. It does seem like action and productive, but it's not. And the best way is to just zero in on the details that matter and deliberately ignore everything else. Thirdly, it's too much worrying that leads to negative scenarios. It's best to focus on what you can do right now and only right now. And lastly, and maybe the most important one, try to know yourself. The ability to self-diagnose and be self-aware can help a great deal to yourself. But mind it, be honest to yourself. One should never tell lies about himself to himself, right? So the last step that is step number eight. Daily system for success. Now, this one belongs to my own life. I began a consulting business. I was my own boss and didn't anticipate any trouble managing any activity. I was like the boss. I knew everything, everything was going great. I had time for every small task. But as business took off, my inbox was inundated. Lists of clients grew longer. I was completely overwhelmed. Putting in 12 hours a day was also less. Everything was changing into a mess. As a result, the business suffered. Terrible life. And the question was, what did I do wrong? Everything was going great. Then what happened all of a sudden? And the answer was that I didn't use a system. I relied on myself to get everything done. And did not implement a way to organize and streamline work. So I can say my story is a reflection of what happens when you try to always push yourself to do things that you need to do for success in life. So the solution is you must create an organizational system to make your success consistent. And that is where daily systems come into play. Implementing system brought my business back on track. And secondly, must keep a scoreboard for everything. It keeps you motivated and striving towards growth. Learn to manage time that will remove inefficiencies and gather all of the information and material you need all at once. This allows you to work interruption free and gather momentum. So these were all the steps. Following them will make you finish your work. Go ahead, use the template and start. So I hope you find this podcast useful. If yes, please subscribe to this podcast on Apple Spotify Podcast Xmodify.