“Commitment in the face of conflict produces character.” ~Unknown
We all face obstacles in pursuing our goals, whether theyāre professional or personal.
We think weāre on the right track but realize weāve chosen the wrong approach. Weāre enthusiastic and hard-working, but our support system disintegrates when we need them the most. Weāre just about to make significant progress when we run out of time or funding.
Tenacious as we may be, we all have our breaking pointsāthat moment when the potential rewards stop justifying the effort. Usually, thatās the hump that separates your best shot and your best reality.
Before you throw in the towel and go back to something safe and far less taxing, ask yourself the following questions:
1. Why did you want to pursue this goal to begin with, and has anything changed?
You had a good reason for committing to this plan. Maybe you visualized a financially free future once you started this new business, or you realized youād live longer and healthier if you lost forty pounds.
Odds are, you still want those things as much as you did before; you just stopped believing you could have them because your attempts have yet to yield results. Now you have to ask yourself: If you push through the discomfort, will it be worth it in the end?
2. Have you been operating with too much information?
With so much information at our fingertips on the good ole World Wide Web, itās easy to overwhelm yourself with more knowledge than you can apply. You read e-books and blogs, participate in teleconferences and coaching sessions, and join user forums to talk about getting things done.
One of two things happen as a result: You spend more time planning to act than acting, or you devote minimal energy to multiple plans instead of committing to one solid approach. Instead of drowning in all the data, why not narrow it down and start again from a less overwhelming space?
3. Did you set a smart goal? SMART goals are:
- Specificāyou know exactly what your world will look like when you achieve this goal.
- Measurableāyou have a specific plan to mark your progress as you go.
- Attainableāyou have the attitude and aptitude to make your goal reality.
- Realisticāyouāre willing and able to do the required work.
- Time-boundāyouāve set a concrete timeframe for completion to create a sense of urgency.
If you didnāt set a SMART goal, you may have set yourself up for failure. How can you possibly make something happen if you donāt know exactly what you want, or didnāt really believe you could do it? Are you really willing to walk away when you didnāt give yourself every opportunity to succeed?
4. Whatās the worst that will happen if you keep going and donāt reach your goal?
Often when I want to turn around itās because Iām afraid of failingāafraid other people will be disappointed in me or judge me, or afraid Iāll have wasted my time. In all reality, no one ever judges us like we judge ourselves, and we always grow and learn through the process of striving, regardless of what we attain.
If you donāt keep going, youāll never know how far you could have gone and youāll miss out on being the person youād become through the effort itself. If you do keep going, well, itās like this quote: āShoot for the moon, for even if you miss youāll land among the stars.ā
5. Are you afraid of succeeding?
One of my biggest problems is that I donāt like responsibility. There are many things Iād like to do, but IĀ resist because I donāt want the power to impact, hurt, or disappoint other people. That doesnāt mean that I donāt have dreams. Itās just that Iām just scared of what achieving them will entail.
If you can relate to this feeling, perhaps youāll respond well to the mantra Iāve been repeating: Great power comes with great responsibility, but it also brings great rewards. If you play it safe you wonāt hurt or disappoint anyone, but you also wonāt help or inspire anyone. And equally important, you wonāt help or inspire yourself.
6. Are you acting on impulse or emotion instead of thinking things through?
Sometimes our emotions give us hints about what we want and what we should do, but other times theyāre just responses to stress, and maybe even indications weāre on the right track. If you act in that moment of intense emotionābe it anger, fear, or frustrationāyou may regret it once the wave has passed.
So sit back. Take note of what youāre feeling. Feel it fully, without judging it or yourself. Then act when youāve gotten to the other side. At least then youāll know you made your decision in a moment of peace and clarity.
7. Would you enjoy giving a loved one the honest explanation for why you gave up?
And I mean honest.
Would you like telling your daughter,Ā “I stopped trying to quit smoking because cigarettes are more important to me than having more golden years to spend with you?”
Would it be fun to tell your mother “I decided not to go to school because Iād rather spend all my time with my boyfriend of three months than prepare for a career that will ensure I wonāt end up jobless and homeless?”
If you lay it out like this, odds are youāll realize you had a really good reason for doing this difficult thing, and no matter how challenging the process is, itās worth plowing ahead.
8. Would your life be better if you gave up on this goal?
This may not sound motivational, but sometimes giving up is actually good thing. Perhaps you set a completely unrealistic goal and the pursuit of it is filling you with a constant sense of inadequacy and anxiety. Or maybe the goal isnāt in your or your familyās best interest, and itās better to get out before you invest so much time itās near impossible to walk away.
You could easily use this as a justification to delude yourself, so think about it carefully. Is this goal really a good thing, when you weigh all the consequences of its fulfillment?
9. How much have you already put in?
A concept studied in social psychology called āthe sunk cost principleā indicates the more weāve invested in something, the less likely we are to prematurely walk away.
How invested are you? How much money and time have you devoted? How many sacrifices have you made? Are you really willing to chalk it all up as a loss because youāre not feeling confident in your abilities?
10. What would you tell someone else if they were in your shoes?
Would you tell your best friend to throw in the towel because she canāt possibly reach her goal? Or would you practice your finest motivational speech and help her see what you see in her potential? Unless youāre secretly a frenemy who hopes she fails in life, odds are youād push her to be her bestāso why not push yourself?
It may sound kind of cheesy, but you need to be your own best friend. You, more than anyone in this world, deserve your belief and motivation.
If youāve gone through all these questions and still feel resolute about the decision to give up, you have my blessing to abandon your goal. (Bet you feel so relieved!)
If you donātāif thereās some lingering doubtākeep working toward that dream that fills you with passion.
Take a different approach if you need to. Enlist new assistance. Scale back your time commitment to something you can more easily maintain. But whatever you do, donāt give yourself a reason to one day utter the words, āI quit because I was scared.ā
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