This is our final installment of The Importance of the Second Step. Check out Part 1 and Part 2 here!
Follow Through
One of my favorite mantras is “Follow up and Follow Through.” “Follow through” is defined as “the continuing of an action or task to its conclusion.”
In the context of sports “to continue one’s movement after the ball has been struck or thrown.” A baseball isn’t going to go very far if you stop swinging the second that the bat hits the ball.
I have a friend who’s a professional golfer, and at one point she was experiencing issues with her swing. The issue was not how she was hitting the ball – it was her follow through.
She worked diligently on improving her follow through, and this was an absolute game-changer for her. The reality is that taking that second step, following through, can be a lot of hard work. Doing nothing is always going to be easier than doing something – and is a great way to get nowhere fast.
No Bag, No Scoop!
When out walking the other day I saw a sign encouraging dog owners to scoop 
their pets’ poop instead of leaving it to be washed into waterways. The sign even had a station providing courtesy litter bags – except that no, it didn’t! The station was not being maintained.
Raising awareness is great, but the dog owners who care about scooping poop probably already carry a bag with them. To really be effective the sign needed to also provide bags. By not taking that second step, the City of Durham was no closer to their goal of protecting waterways from pollution. Instead they just had a grumpy sign with no resource.
If you visit my home you’ll see that I don’t have a lot of knickknacks, and this is because I understand the cost of the second step. It’s one thing to purchase some cute tchotchke, it’s another thing to have to dust it regularly! There’s such an opportunity cost to having stuff. I really try to stick to buying things that are functional rather than just decorative, because buying something is only the first step, the second step is what you
do with it once you buy it.
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How Do You Spend Your Time?
I believe identifying and taking those second steps are incredibly important for your success in life. Think about it, if many of those second steps are actually practicing – whether it’s exercising, choosing healthy foods, spending time with your kids, managing your business, using what you learned in marriage counseling, or whatever is important to you in life – then these priorities are instrumental in how you set goals and budget your time.
Identifying your second steps ties into discovering where your points of frustration are, and unlocking the lies that are hindering the purposes of God in your life. So many times we’re frustrated and we don’t even know why. We’re dissatisfied, and we don’t know why.
We wonder why we don’t have clarity or confidence. We think “If I just do X, then problem solved!” – but we’re only taking the first step. Prioritizing and taking those second steps can make a whole world of difference. I am working at doing this all the time, and I encourage you to do so as well.
What can you prioritize and take the second steps on to start checking meaningful goals off of your list?
The post The Importance of the Second Step Part 3 appeared first on The John O'Daniel Exchange.