exactly how you can follow through to get the job done. Here is their three- step plan that works by creating com- pelling reasons, leading the horse to water, and striking while the iron is hot.
WEAK WILL As a psychologist in a cardiac re- habilitation unit, one expert noted that some recovering heart attack patients followed diet and exercise orders initially, then abandoned their lifestyle changes after a few weeks – failing to follow through even when their lives literally depended on it. Other patients, however, maintained their discipline. In looking for rational reasons for this seemingly irrational behavior, he noted that, even when patients desperately wanted to follow through, willpower may have waned when they needed it most. “How many salespeople are out
there who really, really want to in- crease their income and performance, for all kinds of reasons, but year after year they don’t follow through?” he asked. The reason? “They’re look- ing in the wrong place for the solu- tion. The wrong place, essentially, is willpower and self-discipline. They don’t work.” Sure, you might enjoy the occasional triumph of will, but it’s unreliable as a follow-through tool, and consistent success demands con- sistent follow-through.
INNER CHILD
Few people always feel like doing the right thing, and there’s a good reason. As one expert explained it, we all have a split personality. Our every move is guided by two inner systems – one primitive, one state-of-the-art. The two systems do not speak the same language or communicate with one another, and, while the state-of-the- art system guides us to do the logical thing for long-term benefit, the primi- tive one leads us into temptation by pressuring us to do what we most want to do right now. “The best metaphor for this is a
car with two steering wheels and two drivers,” he says. “On the left you
have a 98-pound weakling who is smart, called The Wise One. The Wise One figures out what to do for long- term benefit and steers the car in that direction. But there’s another driver on the right – very strong but not very smart. We call that driver Thor. And Thor has no destination at all. He’s like a three-year-old child, totally into the moment, totally into his physical needs, his five senses, and very per- sistent and powerful when he wants something. When The Wise One says, ‘Improve your closing skills,’ or, ‘Read your new sales literature,’ and Thor says, ‘I want to go to the movies,’ Thor wins even though he’s stupid, because he’s stronger.”
POWERFUL PAIR Lest you think Thor is evil and de- termined to foil your every attempt at success, the expert emphasizes that Thor really isn’t good or bad but simply self-absorbed. When you can’t overpower him, you can outsmart him. If you know how to use his power, the same Thor that keeps you from getting anything done one day can drive you to new heights of productivity the next. “If you set things up right,” says
the expert, “Thor will help you be a peak performer. And that’s what’s so exciting about how these strategies work. When you do set your environ- ment up the right way, you’ll find Thor yelling and pushing to get you to do what’s right, and you achieve incred- ible things.” To hit on just the right solution, keep it simple and stupid. You may have to do some silly things to make Thor cooperate, but not following through on tasks that will make you successful is equally absurd. “The solution is to take a simple
action so that Thor and The Wise One are both steering in the same direction at the same time. So, in other words, you feel like doing what you know is best. They become a team, so you have the power of Thor and the brains of The Wise One working together.”
“Why wisdom is weak and stupidity is
strong – and what you can do about it.”
SMART STRATEGIES The experts offered several strate- gies to help you turn Thor into your follow-through friend. The first, creat- ing compelling reasons, shows that using the “wrong” reasons to follow through works better than using the “right” ones. For example, motivat- ing yourself to work late because you want a raise in three months is like talking to the wrong decision maker on a sales call. You’re trying to appeal to a force that has intelligence but no power. The Wise One wants the raise, but Thor wants to go home now – and Thor is the one with the decision- making muscle. To create compelling reasons that will spur you to action, they advised considering less logical (but more powerful) motivators. “The idea here is that there’s a big
difference between the right rea- sons for doing something and the truly compelling reasons,” they said. “Compelling reasons are immediate, certain, and personal, whereas the right reasons tend to be logical and long-term but have very little immedi- ate impact.” The expert illustrated his point
with the story of a salesperson who called him after hearing him speak. For years, the salesperson had failed to follow through on his resolution to get up at 5:15 in the morning to study technical material. The salesperson, who had two very young children, had great logical reasons for getting up to study, but he failed until he created a truly compelling reason for himself. He decided to set one alarm clock in his bedroom for 5:12 and another one in the kids’ room for 5:15. When the alarm went off in his room, he would
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