Finish What You Start: The Art of Following Through, Taking Action, Executing, & Self-Discipline (Live a Disciplined Life Book 2)

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I didn't really connect with the examples, the characters used in the thought experiments clearly have different ambitions in life and mindsets than I have. The content itself is unoriginal; if you know anything at all about productivity or habit development, this will not teach you anything new. It is action that will move things in the real world and take you from Point A to Point B—that is, from where you are now to where the fulfillment of your goals lies. Avoiding negative social emotions works well because no one wants to feel shame, guilt, or rejection.

For example, the habit that stuck out to me the most was the limitations and rules to set for yourself. If the opportunity cost is too expensive for you to want to pay it, then you will not follow through. When you feel an urge, force yourself to wait for 10 minutes before giving in to whatever the urge is.Worrying causes you to suffer twice—once during the worrying and again if the dreaded event actually occurs. And all too often, we don’t bother looking past what’s in front of us because what’s in front of us is easy and convenient. If you’re constantly distracted, you succumb to temptations without even giving yourself a chance to exercise your willpower.

This fear often stems from a desire for perfection or a concern about how others perceive our efforts. Temptation bundling is an excellent and efficient way to kill procrastination and increase productivity by combining present and future selves and their conflicting needs. Willpower and self-discipline, on the other hand, only offer you strength to force yourself to do things; they do not give you a set way of doing things or a streamlined list of actions to complete. It's a good book, insightful and eye-opening, and it has some good pointers in identifying issues and roadblocks in you that have been stopping you from finishing, but I wish it had more pointers in how to combat these things.By curating a workspace that promotes productivity and constructing habits that naturally steer you towards your objectives, you create a favorable context that increases the likelihood of taking consistent and purposeful steps forward. For such a short book it is jam packed with good actionable suggestions to help with follow through. Procrastination comes from boredom, complacency, and safety, so stripping those feelings away can leave you paranoid and eager to avoid bad consequences. Think of all the projects that fall in this timeline; During Week 1, you’re inspired and you make progress. By identifying the paths of least resistance that lead to productivity, you can make it easier for yourself to follow through and stay on track.

It is the visible aspect of following through, the one that’s actually observed, measured, and evaluated against your goals. I started the book not because I'm lazy and have some major problems with following through, but because I wanted to make the process of finalizing my project more efficient by consciously applying the advices in the book.This makes it very clear to yourself that you are not acting out of a lack of ability or talent, but rather you are just taking the easy way out. Waiting for a future reward is often not sufficient to motivate your present self because your present self does not want to wait. This book has so many golden nuggets of information that you have to listen 2 or 3 times to mine it all.