How to Carry out: The Discipline of Following Through

Most people can make a plan. Planning is fun. You get to dream, scheme, and visualize a future where everything is awesome.

But executing plans?

A lot of people struggle with that.

A few months ago, I did a poll on the AoM WhatsApp Channel (give us a follow!) asking what members were struggling with the most. The most common answer was executing and sticking with plans.

The gap between “what I intend to do” and “what I actually do” is so common it has its own name in psychology: the intention–behavior gap. You decide you’ll start running three times a week. You mean it. You may even go once or twice. Then…life happens. Weeks later, your running shoes sit in your closet collecting dust.

If you want to make progress in your life, you’ve got to learn how to overcome the intention-behavior gap. You’ve got to start executing plans. Thankfully, execution is a skill you can develop, just like you can develop any other skill.

Below are eight research-backed and field-tested strategies that can help you finally become a man who stops dreaming and actually starts getting things done.

1. Focus on Less to Achieve More

Whenever we want to make a change in our lives, our typical approach is to try to do everything at once. New diet, new complex workout, new morning routine, new side hustle. Result: nothing changes.

People do the same when they try to carry out a large project, like starting a business. I’ve seen people try to do the organizational aspect of creating a business, like forming an LLC and opening a bank account, while simultaneously trying to create merch, develop a marketing plan, and create a blog. They try to do so much at the same time that they get overwhelmed and quit before the business ever gets off the ground.

If you want to start getting more done, you’ve got to start doing less.

The people who actually get traction pick a few truly important goals and ignore the rest. Warren Buffett has a simple guideline that’s helped him accomplish a lot during his life: Make a list of your top 25 goals, circle the top 5, and avoid the other 20 at all costs until those five are done.

2. Plan the When and How — Not Just the What

“I’m going to work out more” is a wish, not a plan.

“On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 7:00 a.m., I’ll lift weights at the YMCA” is a plan.

Psychologists call this an “implementation intention” — pairing a goal with a specific cue. If you know the when, where, and how ahead of time, you don’t burn mental energy deciding in the moment. You just follow the script.

We did a deep dive into implementation intentions way back in 2012. Give that article a read. It’s an idea that I’ve used throughout my life to help me stick to a workout routine for over 10 years, as well as follow through on weekly planning sessions that help me stay on top of my life.

3. Visualize Obstacles

One of the reasons planning is so enjoyable is that when we plan, we’re not confronted with the friction of the real world. When you’re putting pen to paper, creating your plan for a dream vacation to Asia, you’re probably not thinking about all the things that can go wrong.

Planning without thinking about failures can prevent the execution of said plans in two ways. First, if all you do is visualize success during your planning sessions, your brain gets a false sense of completion, and your motivation to actually start executing your plans drops.

Second, if you don’t think about obstacles while planning, you’re more likely to lose steam the moment you hit one during the execution of your plan. As Mike Tyson put it, “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face.”

To overcome the motivation-sapping power of visualizing pure success during your planning session, use Gabriele Oettingen’s WOOP method: Wish, Outcome, Obstacle, Plan. Picture the win, then immediately picture what could derail you. Then come up with a plan on how you’ll overcome that obstacle.

4. Use the 70% Rule

One thing that I’ve seen in my life and the lives of other people that prevents them from executing plans is thinking and researching too much. We tell ourselves that if we