1776- It's All About the Follow Through


July 4th, 1776, or maybe July 2nd, or maybe August 2nd…. Well there is some debate on which is the correct date to celebrate Independence Day. If you want more details they can be found here  or 1,000’s of other places on the internet. That’s really not the point. Whichever day is the “correct” day is very important to American history and I would say very important to most Americans. This is evident from the crazy celebrations that take place on the 4th of July. Over the years this has become a national holiday of huge celebrations with fireworks, parties, food, the whole shebang! This date is immortalized as the day that the 13 colonies declared their independence from Great Britain. This is considered by many the first collective step toward forming the United States of America. I will try not to bore you with too much history, I promise this is going somewhere.

 Why did this FIRST step become so important? There are many first steps that never materialize to any importance. There are millions of first steps taken every year January 1st with New Year’s resolutions. Gyms are packed with new members, every health product sells enough products to make them profitable for the year, books start to be written, savings and investment accounts open, and bad habits are put to rest. With all of these great first steps, everyone should be walking around looking like they are ready to grace the cover of Men’s Fitness, have a multi-million dollar book deal, have enough savings to retire anytime they want, and whatever other resolution we set. We all know this isn’t the reality. We all know that by February the gym is back to the “regulars”, McDonald’s is back on the menu, the spark to write is fading, and buying that new gadget sounds a lot better than saving. Next January we take the same first step, like being stuck in a year-long Groundhog Day.

 Let’s revisit our beginning topic. The Declaration of Independence. If the colonists had the determination we put into our New Year’s resolutions I am not sure there would be much to celebrate. This event would have become a footnote in history. It would still be in the history books, but with a much less prominent role of a failed rebellion. If this topic interests you, I am sure there are many articles, blogs, and probably even a few books written from the perspective of a British victory. This is, of course, all hypothetical because the colonists did go on to win their independence. They fought the American Revolutionary War for approximately 8 years and on September 3, 1783, The Treaty of Paris was signed signaling the formal end of the war and ensuring the colonists’ independence. So the reason the 4th of July is so important is because of the follow through. The colonists followed through on their plan. They kept going during tough times. They continued to push in the face of failure. They made a resolution and stuck to it. If they hadn’t, then the first step wouldn’t have mattered all that much. That is the importance of follow through. Follow through gives meaning and purpose to the 1st step. 
The definition of follow through is “to press on in an activity or process especially to a conclusion”. This was “give me liberty or give me death” territory for the colonists. Our everyday typically doesn’t carry such consequences, but our ability to follow through still carries huge weight. We take first steps all of the time. We start a new program or a new job. We make a promise. We take on a project at work. In education we make a promise to a student, a parent, a co-worker.These are all important first steps, but to make them more than a footnote, we have to follow through. Lack of follow through puts an end to many great plans. It can hurt your credibility, morale, fray relationships, and be a general detriment to your success.

All that we want to accomplish begins with that first step, that declaration, however, to make that declaration stand up, you have to stay committed, even through failures or losses. You have to persevere and to “press on until conclusion”. Our commitment can’t be fleeting. We have to make a plan and keep moving forward. As an educator myself, the outcome is too important to render that first step a final step. The promise doesn’t mean much without the action. In the end, it’s all about the follow through.

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