The Scenario: Who isn’t consistently under pressure to complete tasks & projects? But you have a choice: You can PUSH THROUGH them to “Get them off your plate” or make the time to WORK THROUGH them to the best of your abilities.
WORK THROUGH is taking active control of the momentum of whatever you’re doing. This happens when you consciously make one decision after another, purposefully linking them together in a calculated series until you achieve your outcome.
Insight: Since choosing to WORK THROUGH involves consciously making repeated decisions, two very useful things tend to happen: (1) Each successive decision you make strengthens your ability to keep on making even better decisions as you move on. (2) Since you’re actively guiding your decisions, you’re very likely to achieve whatever effect or outcome you have in mind; you get done precisely what you wanted to get done.
PUSH THROUGH is rolling with the momentum of whatever activity you’re doing. You simply continue your efforts until some manner of conclusive “decision” is generated for you by circumstance.
Insight: Since choosing PUSH THROUGH involves avoiding proactive decisions, there is the real danger of ending up a victim of your circumstances. Should you let this happen, the quality of your outcome will reflect your choices, and you’ll have missed an opportunity to cultivate your potential.
The Takeaway: When you find yourself under the gun, take a moment to reconfirm your completion strategy: Will you WORK THROUGH by making decisions or will you PUSH THROUGH and accept the default outcome. Both options are usually available to you, so stay mindful that the choice is yours.