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In certain sports, such as golf, basketball, and tennis, it is preached how important the follow through is.

I always thought it was odd that what you do after the ball has already made contact with the equipment and sent on its way is just as vital as the moments before contact.

But the follow through is indeed important in these sporting activities and has been analyzed extensively.

Well the principle of follow through in sports can be also implemented in our every day lives.

Too often we engage in a certain activity in life but “drop the ball” when it comes to proper follow through and thus let ourselves, or others, down.

The wannabe guest bloggers.

As the owner of this website, I field a lot of emails from various sources pitching ideas/topics for potential guest posts.

Unless the email is clearly from a source that appears to be spam, I try to respond to each and every contact email.

I give details of the type of quality and content I am looking for with my response email.

The vast majority of times I get no response.

Of those that continue the engagement, a guest post topic is typically agreed upon and then I wait for their submission.

And wait.  And wait.   And wait.

I would say about 80% do not follow through by submitting an actual guest post.

It is not like I was actively soliciting these individuals.

No, it was they who contacted me for the opportunity to publish on my site.

These individuals have no follow through and I walk away from the situation feeling it was a waste of my time and then ultimately treat it as their loss.

The 6 figure missed landscape opportunity.

During a conversation at a dentist appointment, I found out that my dental hygienist was married to the owner of a landscaping company.

In 2018 I just so happened to be contemplating a major landscaping project.

As part of the process, I decided to call and make appointments for initial consultation with several of the bigger landscaping companies in the area.

Because of the connection with my dental hygienist, her husband’s landscape company made this initial cut.

I contacted him, spoke briefly with him on the phone about the desired projects I wanted done and he said he would contact me back at a better time because he was currently at one of his children’s sporting event.

I said no problem and waited.

A little over a week went by and never heard a word from him.

I finally caved in, called back and he apologized saying that things were busy and I was still on the “To Do list.”

Fair enough.

Another couple of weeks passed by and every other landscape contractor had come by, did an initial consultation, and even got back to me with bids.

At this point I said if this landscaper doesn’t want my business, I certainly am not going to reward him with my hard money and took him off the list once and for all.

[By the way he never did get back to me.]

Perhaps he thought that I was just a small landscape project and not worth his time, although in my initial conversation I did mention quite an extensive project list (including building multiple large retaining walls and clearing a lot of the property to make it more accessible).

At the very least a courtesy call explaining his rationale would have sufficed.

Given that I have 7.67 acres of land, this was not your typical neighborhood project.

 

 

In fact the contractor that I went with took several months to complete everything to my liking and the project totaled over $120k.

Given that my dental hygienist’s husband would have gotten preferential treatment in the bidding process, it was his project to lose, and lose it he did.

All because of lack of follow through and common courtesy.

It’s the follow through that sets you apart.

My fiancee is a manager at a global, Forbes 500 company.

She interviews a lot of candidates for potential highly competitive openings.

One tidbit she passed along to me is that it scores points with her when candidates take the initiative and shows proper follow through by mailing her thank you notes to her for taking the time to interview them.

A simple gesture such as this goes a long way.

It shows that you are courteous in addition to having good follow through with the interviewing process.

Anything to set yourself apart from the rest of the fray is worth doing.

It gives potential employers a glimpse into your character and that you will follow a project through completion and dot your I’s and cross your Ts.

Takeaway.

The lack of proper follow through can be harmful for both your game and your life.

It is not enough to say you will do something.

It is acting on your words that will set you apart from the majority of people who let things slide and therefore fall behind.

 

 

Note:

If you are in search of financial help, please consider enlisting the service of any of the sponsors of this blog who I feel are part of the “good guys and gals of finance.”

Even a steadfast DIY’er can sometimes gain benefit from the occasional professional input.

 

 

-Xrayvsn