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Do you recognize yourself in the following? You start enthusiastically with something and you are fully convinced that you will reach the finish line. For example, following a new course. I started a home course in marketing years ago. In the full conviction that I would finish it in time. Unfortunately, there were a few bumps on the road that I couldn’t handle at the time and I stopped taking the course. Frustrated and much poorer.
I think everyone knows the feeling. At the moment you start, you simply cannot imagine that something can go wrong, or that you may run out of motivation. But unfortunately, sometimes things are disappointing when you are on the way. Everyone comes across the bumps that simply belong to starting something and then finish it. Whether the goal is to eat healthier, finish a course or set up your own business, you simply cannot escape the fact that things are not always going well.
Realize that it is very normal you want to stop when something goes wrong. We are used to having an instant reward when we do something. That makes it difficult to continue if things go wrong.
- What works very well is to remind yourself at such a point why you started in the first place. Why did you want so much what you do now? What is your goal? What inspired you? What do you want to achieve with it? It certainly helps if you write it down for yourself.
- Before you begin, plan how you want to achieve your goal, and then divide this plan into small pieces so that it becomes clearer what you need to do to reach your goal. In difficult times it is not easy to climb at a large mountain, but when you take small steps it goes much smoother.
- Very important: Celebrate the small wins that you have booked. Every step and victory brings you closer to your goal! I find that sometimes difficult, and I want to move on quickly to the next success, but I have also noticed that by considering what you have achieved, you are even more motivated to continue.
- Enjoy that you are learning. It’s just great to experience that you are growing.
- If you encounter obstacles that don’t work for you, ask yourself where it is that you encounter them and make the necessary adjustments. Change the path, not the goal.
- Talk to like-minded people. There are probably countless people in your area who have the same problem because it is very human! Get help from these people. Ask how they deal with it when things go wrong and what they do in difficult times. This will give you so much support and generate new ideas.
- Allow yourself a break now and again. No stop, but a short break to regain energy. Just a pause and then go full speed ahead.
“It’s darkest before the dawn” is a very nice sentence to repeat for yourself in difficult times, and it really is like that, just like the saying of the last mile…