Steve Levinson Ph.D. - Following Through: A Revolutionary New Model for Finishing Whatever You Start

Kudos

Finally, a book about improving performance that doesnt sugarcoat the truth. It not only calls a spade a spade, it actually shows you how to use the spade to dig in and get the job done.

James J. Nemec,
Vice-President for Agency Development,

Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company

A milestone among self-help books...indispensable reading for those cultivating positive, lasting changes in their lives.

Ray Mulry, PhD, Author,

In The Zone: Making Winning
Moments Your way of Life

Truly a pioneering work...filled with fascinating insights and ingenious solutions to a problem that frustrates us all.

Ron Young, MD, Psychiatrist

Provides the critical missing link between setting a personal goal and actually achieving it.

Mark Larson, President,

Digi-Key Corporation

Provocative...ought to be read and considered by anyone serious about continuing self-improvement.

Dan S. Kennedy, President,

The Pscho-Cybernetics Foundation, Inc.

The quintessential book about how to get it done.

Brian Early, Executive Director of Development,

Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company

Eye-opening...takes you on a creative and compelling journey and leaves you with a new understanding of how to achieve success.

John W. Cruikshank, III, CLU, 199697 President,

Million Dollar Round Table

A must read for anyone whos fighting the good fight to lose weight, quit smoking, or improve performance in any way.

C. Wayne Mitchell, President,

Productive Presentations, Inc.

Its the one book thats been missing from the self-help bookshelf. And it may be the last self-help book youll ever need.

Peter Vandermark, Associate Professor of Journalism,

Boston University

Required reading for my entire sales force! Full of original concepts and practical techniques for taking control of your personal destiny.

Harry P. Hoopis, President,

Hoopis Financial Services

Empowering. Had an immediate impact on my work as a consultant. Gives me a powerful new set of tools for helping my clients get maximum benefit from our work together.

Chuck Phillips, Senior Consultant,

Reddy-Phillips Consultants

Provides the tools you need to truly become the captain of your own ship.

Ben Benjamin, PhD, Author,

Listen to Your Pain

Following Through will empower you to do more with your life than you ever thought possible.

Joan Brock, Author,

More than Meets the Eye

Creative and practical solutions for important everyday problems...revealed with wit, wisdom, and warmth.

John Tyler, PhD, CEO,

Human Resources Consultants

Talk about practical advice! No motivational mumbo-jumbo here. Cuts right to the bottom line on how to be successful.

Richard E. McAllaster, President,

McAllaster & Associates

If you have a dream in your heart and this book in your hand, start reading. Each page will take you one step closer to having your dream come true. I guarantee it.

Rob Gilbert, PhD, Editor,

Bits & Pieces Magazine

As a consultant to global leaders in high tech, healthcare, and financial services, I see the problem of poor follow-through rob my clients of success every day. Fresh, clear, and powerful, this book is jam-packed with exciting new solutions to an age-old problem.

Gil Williams, Partner,

Rheault-Williams Consulting

Following Through

A Revolutionary New Model

For Finishing Whatever You Start

Steve Levinson, Ph.D.
& Pete Greider, M.Ed.

FOLLOWING THROUGH (Third Edition)

Copyright 2015 by Steve Levinson and Pete Greider

All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in articles or reviews, no part of this book may be used or produced in any manner without written permission from the authors.

This publication is not intended to serve as a substitute for relevant professional advice tailored to the needs of each person.

Cover and interior design by Deborah Bradseth, Tugboat Design

First Edition published in 1998 by Kensington Publishing

Second Edition published in 2007 by Unlimited Publishing

MotivAider is the registered trademark of Behavioral Dynamics, Inc

To all the good intentions

that needlessly died so young

Contents

Heres an overview of what's inside. To navigate, please use your readers internal table of contents.

Introduction

The Leaky Bucket

SECTION I:

Following Through: A New Perspective

Chapter 1:

Poor Follow-Through: Its No Laughing Matter

Chapter 2:

The Follow-Through Fairy Tale

Chapter 3:

The Ever-Popular It Must Be Me Theory

Chapter 4:

In Search of the Real Culprit

Chapter 5:

We Have Met the Enemy, and He Is Us

Chapter 6:

No Wonder We Dont Follow Through!

Chapter 7

The Truth Shall Set Us Free

Chapter 8:

Nobody Smokes in Church:

The Power and Influence of Situations

Chapter 9:

Discovering Step Two

Chapter 10:

The Art of Shaping Situations

SECTION II:

Follow-Through Strategies

Chapter 11:

Master Strategy #1: Spotlighting

Chapter 12:

Master Strategy #2: Willpower Leveraging

Chapter 13:

Creating Compelling Reasons

Chapter 14:

Leading the Horse to Water

Chapter 15:

Going Too Far

Chapter 16:

Right Before Wrong

Chapter 17:

Strike While the Iron Is Hot

Chapter 18:

Meet the MotivAider :

Your Electronic Follow-Through Assistant

Chapter 19:

Marys Follow-Through Angel

Chapter 20:

Using Your Follow-Through Toolkit

SECTION III:

The Follow-Through Mindset

Chapter 21:

Adopting Intentions Is Serious Business

Chapter 22:

Making the Transition to a

Follow-Through Mindset

Epilogue

About the Authors

Following Through

... from a Different Angle

Sprinkled throughout this book you'll find short essays entitled Following Through...from a Different Angle. These are intended to provide thought-provoking commentary on the trials and tribulations of good intentions.

The Unreliable Iwanit Button

The Fizz that Fizzles

The Ultimate Power Struggle

Book Clubbed

More Grist for the Intention Mill

Can Your Imagination Help You Follow Through?

Are Your Promises Only Skin Deep?

Necessity Is the Mother of Follow-Through

Pay Now, Buy Later

How Well Do the Follow-Through Experts Follow Through?

Curing a Trigger Finger

Introduction

Youve just returned from a relaxing vacation in the wilderness. You turn on the TV to catch up on the news. Uh oh, looks like something bad happened. Having missed the beginning of the story, you struggle to piece together whats going on.

Its a public menace of astronomical proportions, the Surgeon General reports gravely to the scores of reporters gathered around him. It claims victims young and old from all walks of life. It affects more people than do all the name-brand diseases combined, he continues. And it does more than just rob people of physical health. It penetrates every nook and cranny of their lives. It actually blocks its victims from using the potential they have to improve their lives. Its hard to imagine a more insidious threat.

Yikes, this is alarming!

From what youve been able to gather so far, theres a weird and scary disease going around that actually prevents people from using their own intelligence and experience to run their lives effectively. It sounds like people can still use their intelligence to figure out what they should do, but then they just dont do it. This, of course, keeps them from exercising control over everything they should be able to control. It sounds awful. Youre guessing that this must be a case of germ warfare or maybe nerve gas.