this is the cycle of not following through

you have an intention / goal / problem
you have a burst of energy and brainstorm what to do
you do it for a few days
other things happen in your life. you slowly forget about it, and you do other things.
time passes. you go back to this intention / goal / problem…

don’t give up before you even try

for most of 2019, when I first started throwing all of myself into this thing — I had a crazy amount of goals and intentions, and suffered a lot in the process of trying to reach them. I often felt discouraged and desperate and exhausted.

but. when emotionally overwhelmed, it is easy to go around in circles around a problem and calling that “work,” when it’s really frantic, potential energy in place, but no forward movement, no momentum. what you need is a logical, methodical approach — framework in which you pour yourself into everyday, and slowly, to find the flow and spontaneity within.

don’t give up on the problem / intention before you’ve given it your 100%.

a methodical roadmap for follow through

Download a blank PDF version here

The idea of this roadmap is that each thing logically builds upon the next — it’s a roadmap that begins from the inside out: starting with your core intentions and reason why, and expanding outwards into daily practice.

Intentions / Goals

what do you want to do? what is the vision? be specific.

Reason why

why is this important to you? a reason why is your inner compass — articulate how it makes you feel, or why it connects to your deeper values and mission.

Approach

what are the approaches you will try? there are many routes into the same summit. which route do you want to begin with — and how does this approach fit with what you know about yourself (your way of working, learning, growing), and what you need?

Process

how will you go about this approach? what do you need to do this? how will you prepare yourself? what does it entail?

Practice

this is where I might keep a daily log. how have you integrated this into your day to day? how is it working on a day to day basis?

apply this process to any area of your life

I have charts for work, emotional life, and passions/pursuits. but this framework works for thinking through any intentions, no matter how specific.

keep a daily log of what you do

under “practice” — you might experiment with tracking what you do on a day to day basis, until you get into the habit of it.

troubleshoot your roadmap - part by part

the idea of this roadmap is to see your goals / approach / execution on a single page — so that everything you do is connected to a larger purpose. if something isn’t working, maybe you don’t need to throw out the whole plan and start from scratch.

instead, ask: which part of the journey isn’t working for you?

do you have trouble integrating the practice into your day to day? why is that? what’s blocking you?
is the process feeling unnatural or forced?
is the approach not working for you? are there other approaches you can try? what does the “stuckness” of this particular approach say about what you need, and how you work?

or, maybe the intention needs to be clarified. perhaps your goals and outlook on life has changed.

allow it to flow and evolve and change with you

a plan isn’t a realistic plan if it doesn’t account for the natural ebbs and flows of our psyche. so — on a day-to-day basis, we can do the practice of our deeper intentions, but also find a sense of flow and freedom within the practice itself. it shouldn’t feel restrictive, or like an item on your checklist — but rather, give you a sense of freedom, ease, and forward momentum.

when it comes to manifesting intentions and goals, focusing on presence and process is (paradoxically) the most efficient way. because that’s how you find joy in the doing, and the potential energy of the act pushes you along in ways you can’t anticipate.

so, now that you have your intentions and approaches — ask yourself:

how can you make the practice and process more pleasurable?

a roadmap for following through on goals