It’s low tide in Raja Ampat, Indonesia and as the waters recede from the coral reef you can see a strange site. A shark is walking around and chasing down crabs. They are called epaulette sharks and they can walk in the open air.
But how can these sharks “walk”?
Two types of adaptations. First, they have special fins with increased range of motion that allow the sharks to use them like feet. Second, they can function with very little oxygen by slowing their heart rate and breathing and limiting blood flow to certain parts of their brain.
It took millions of years for these sharks to develop the ability to walk around
If they had not gone through the stages of evolution they would just flap around and die in the sun. When we make commitments they also must go through stages to become viable. When they don’t, they also die but so slowly you hardly notice.
To increase your ability to follow through, go through the three stages of successful commitments:
1. A vague intention
2. A specific goal
3. A concrete plan
1. The limits of a vague intention
On New Year’s Day millions of people will create resolutions to lose weight, exercise more or save more money but according to the journal Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy 92% will fail to keep their commitment. One reason is these commitments are vague intentions.
A vague intention is … well … vague
It’s usually a goal to improve something without specifying exactly what that something is. Make more money in my business. Get better at listening. These are vague and as a result, they are very difficult to translate into action. Hence, the extremely high failure rate for these kinds of intentions. For a vague intention to be more than mere words it must evolve to the next stage.
2. Why a specific goal is better
A specific goal often involves specifying a quantity of some kind. Instead of just losing weight, you might say I want to lose 11 pounds. Instead of exercise more, it’s go to the gym 3 times per week. Instead of making more money, it’s do 10 more sales calls a month.
There is research on making specific goals too
This research shows that specific goals are far better than vague intentions when it comes to improving performance as long as they are also challenging. But specific goals still have a very high failure rate when it comes to changing behavior. To get the highest success rate, something additional is needed.
3. Why a specific plan is best of all
In 2001 Veronika Brandstatter and colleagues studied the effects of forming specific plans on the ability of recovering heroin addicts to follow through on a challenging project – submitting a resume by 5 pm the next day. Half of the participants were told to set a goal to get the resume in on time and half told to form a goal plus a specific plan of where they would work on the resume, when they would do it and how they would do it.
By 5 pm 60% of those who had made specific plans had completed the resume
What percentage of the participants who did not make plans turned one in? Zero.
Other studies over the past twenty years have shown similar results in far less challenged groups of people. A goal intention is good but a specific plan is far better at getting follow through.
However, there is one barrier that can still derail you
What is that barrier? Low commitment. In every study, those who were committed to their goals and plans had a higher rate of success than those who were less committed. In fact, low commitment almost always predicted failure. So it’s important to think through your goals and plans and ask “Who is important in being able to do this?” “What is important to me about doing this?” This will help you tap into your values which are essential for making long-term commitments.
To sum up
We’ve discussed how vague intentions have a 92% failure rate. How specific goals are better but still leave a lot to chance and how plans that specify where, when and how you will do something are far more effective in getting follow through.
The epaulette shark is quite successful at catching prey once low tide sets in
The other sea creatures in the shallow waters are less mobile and therefore an easy catch. When you transform your wishes from vague intentions to specific goals and finally to specific plans, you’ll find that it’s far easier for you to catch the results you want in your life as well.
Next step
One other idea that will help you follow through is the idea of shifting the focus of your motivation which I discuss in my article “A simple formula that helps you follow through.” When you read that article you’ll get more ideas that help you reach your most challenging goals.
