Many people fail in their careers because they like to dabble. After the fun of learning something new has worn off, they lack the discipline to follow through on the less exciting but important work that usually follows.

For example, such people enjoy brainstorming or developing the plan for a project but balk at the more mundane task of implementing it. Or they enjoy framing the big picture of something new but get bored with the details. Or they might enjoy the first few months on a job but, soon after, lose their motivation.

If that sounds like you, here's a little career advice:

1. Seek out a job in which dabbling is OK: consultant, teacher, journalist, personal coach, editor, or librarian, for example. Or choose a patchwork career, one in which you hold more than one part-time job. I know of a woman who does pottery, teaches gardening and tennis, travels extensively to Africa and South America to volunteer, and works part time as a dental hygienist.

2. Where possible, try to delegate details to others. Or if you're not in a position to delegate, might it be possible to offer to trade off with a coworker? Do some of his or her big-picture work while farming out some of your own detail work?

3. Decide if you want to control your dabbler instincts. If so:

a) Read and keep rereading this tough-love paragraph. Put it on your bathroom mirror or another place you'll always see it:

Remember that your dabbling often has a devastating effect on others who are counting on you to follow through. Perhaps it's your spouse who is forced to shoulder the entire family's economic burden while you spend or go to school rather than earn. Or coworkers who need you to do your part. Do you really want to be known as a flake, someone who can't be counted on? Your children view you as a role model. Do you want them to see you accomplishing little? And putting others aside, do you really want to end up as a jack of all trades and master of none, or worse, someone who dabbled in lots of things and produced nothing?

b) Be vigilant for the moment of truth: when you know that it's time for following through on a task, beyond the novelty phase, but are tempted to move on to something new.