14 Best Strategies to Avoid Quitting on Your Goals
I knew you’d quit! What?! Yes… you heard me correctly. I said, “I knew you’d quit!” How did I know, you ask? If you are like most people I know who are struggling with giving up too soon, I want to take a few minutes to explain to you why we fall into this trap.
We all make New Year’s Resolutions or goals for our year, but how many of us follow through to the end with them? Are you still working toward yours, or has it mostly become a good intention? Did you lose interest, get distracted, or stop working on the goals you were excited about in the first place?
These are The Best Strategies to Avoid Quitting On Your Goals. They will help you hold onto your goals and commit to them no matter what challenges or obstacles you face along the way.
14 Best Strategies to Avoid Quitting On Your Goals
Why am I giving up so easily? Are you asking yourself that question? Most people have asked themselves the same thing at one point or another. There are different reasons why we may want to quit.
But the truth is if you do, you miss out on the internal and external rewards of living your best life. Let’s dive into some of the Best Tips to avoid giving up on your goals.
Have A Clear Direction Of Where You’re Headed
This is the first step to help you keep going and not quit on your goals. Be clear on what you want to achieve and the exact outcomes you’re working towards.
A vision board is a great way to have a mental picture of your goals and dreams and acts as a powerful reminder to keep going. Abstract goals are just wishes. Clarity matters!
Have A Deep Enough Reason WHY You Want What You Want
Your goal has to be deeply connected to your WHY which is your driver. So you’ve got to dig deep and give yourself enough time to find your true WHY.
List all the strong reasons why you want to achieve that goal or go after that big dream. Your WHY has to be aligned with your core values, passions, purpose, and priorities. It’s what will fuel you to take the necessary action for you to make things happen.
What is it that your goal or New Year’s resolution will do for your life? If you hit it, what would you gain? Whom would it impact? Why does your goal matter? Your WHY will help you persevere when things are tough and make this a worthy goal to pursue.
Think about the Canaanite woman who begged Jesus to heal her daughter in Matthew 15:21-28. She was motivated by her desire to help her daughter and was willing to push past anything, humble herself, and even throw herself at Jesus’s feet.
Her persistence paid off and Jesus healed her daughter. Her WHY pushed her through the obstacles that stood between her and her goal.
Develop a clear action plan
Without a plan, you don’t know what direction you’re headed. You don’t need things to be perfect, but you do need some type of plan to get yourself started.
Your plans may change, and you may have to try, fail, adjust, and try again – over and over – but with a plan, you’ll also have a reference for reflection.
You can determine what’s working, what’s not working, what you need to add, or what you need to let go of. Taking small steps to crush your goals is an important part of the goal-setting process. Have a clear daily, weekly, or monthly to-do list and take consistent action toward the end result.
The good news is unlike outcomes and external events that impact us we have no control over, we can control our actions. Focusing on your actions helps you see and appreciate the beauty in small wins. When you intentionally pause and celebrate a win, you avoid quitting on your goals.
Download the free My Game Plan Workbook
To help you break up that big, burly goal into bite-sized chunks that work with your capacity in this season: redhotmindset.com/game-plan
Don’t wait for things to be perfect before you start
The reality is the timing will never be right, and you’ll never be ready. You don’t need things to be perfect or have your ducks in a row to start. You just need a dream and a willingness to start as you are. You are enough through Christ!
If I waited for things to be perfect before I wrote my book or started my podcast, I’d still be waiting! Things were far from perfect when I began this journey. I had a broken ankle and couldn’t walk or drive and was in pain all the time! I didn’t have a dedicated spot for my writing and recording… I still don’t!
I use what I have, and my kitchen table is my office, my couch is my writing space, and a corner of my living room is my dedicated studio. Is it ideal? Maybe not, but I will use what I have and choose to do it imperfectly because I know my message is important and will make a positive change in people’s lives. My dreams matter, and so do yours.
Being a perfectionist is closely associated with procrastination. Choose to rather embrace the power of progress over perfection. You need to JUST START. Better yet, start now.
Build consistency first
Most people function on autopilot. Look at the things you do daily like getting dressed or driving to work. All done without putting much thought or effort. When we do something for the first time it’s hard but over time with repetition, we learn the process and do the tasks on autopilot.
If your goal involves doing new things, make them easier in the beginning. If you’re starting new things like exercising, start with 5 or 10 pushups and become consistent in that first before increasing your intensity.
After 90 days your brain will put this activity on autopilot and it becomes part of your daily routine. This makes it easier to do and you’re likely not to quit.
Develop discipline
“It’s going to be hard work, discipline, and the non-cognitive skills – hard work, dedication, sacrifice – that will set you apart.”
David Goggins, American retired United States Navy SEAL
The real reason some of us want to quit our important goals is because of a lack of discipline. We don’t want to do the hard work and push ourselves out of our comfort zone.
We want to enjoy 12 hours of sleep instead of having early mornings to exercise, plan the day, pray, or meditate. We expect to see the results all while doing the bare minimum.
But that’s not how life works. You have to quit things that don’t serve you and commit to your goals. Do you need to spend all those hours watching those TV shows? Do you really need to go to that social event?
Can dreams come true? Yes, they can. To experience personal growth in every area of your life and realize your dreams, you’ll need to be disciplined and choose the best things that will push you toward the life you want.
Change your attitude and self-talk
“Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.”
Thomas Edison, American inventor and businessman
As human beings, we are in a constant battle of the mind. We want to succeed but when things are tough, we feel like giving up. Remember that nothing good comes easy.
Even Jesus Christ had to die on the cross, a humiliating, excruciatingly painful death so we can enjoy freedom, salvation, reconciliation with God, deliverance, and victory.
When you have big dreams you can’t give up. Grit is the most important skill you need and it’s that exceptional perseverance and adopting a never-give-up attitude. Most setbacks are temporary and are not an excuse to quit.
Don’t engage in negative self-talk. Repeat positive affirmations every single day. It’s a powerful way to build a new thought pattern that will serve you well and help you not to give up on your dreams.
Link your goal achievement to an emotion
You have a purposeful and ambitious goal. Now imagine how your future self will feel when you get to the finish line. Proud, excited, joyful, accomplished?
This emotion will motivate you to stay on track. Stop focusing on the issue and shift your focus to the internal and external rewards and how your life will change. This will inspire you to take action and increase your commitment to your goals.
Avoid Being Around Negative People
When you’ve committed to a new habit or want to take new actions toward your goal, some people will discourage you and tell you that you won’t make and achieve your goals. Listening to them can lead to a lack of motivation.
Social media is another place where people share their negative thoughts. You may even want to consider a social media fast if the negativity is affecting your mental health. Be intentional about the spaces you’re in and make an effort to avoid people who bring you down and discourage you.
Find an Accountability Partner
When you have a new goal, it’s a good idea to ask a family member, friend, or someone you trust to be your accountability partner. They can give you feedback and constructive criticism when necessary.
Find the perfect time to have regular phone calls or face-to-face meetings and share your updates and action plans with them. They will encourage and support you so that you don’t quit on your goals until you reach the final result.
Find a different course of action
“Success does not lie in sticking to things. It lies in picking the right thing to stick to and quitting the rest.”
Annie Duke, American former professional poker player
Sometimes despite our best efforts, we can notice that the steps and actions that we’re taking are not working. Next time this happens, take time to brainstorm and find a different approach to reaching the finish line.
Don’t be stuck doing the same thing over and over again even when it’s not working because of the sunk-cost fallacy. This is a tendency we have as human beings to continue with an endeavor that’s clearly no longer serving us because we’ve spent time, effort, and money on that decision.
We become emotionally invested and feel like we need to follow through. But if you need to quit on a particular course of action, do so and focus on your future. Be willing to adjust and take the best course of action that will get you to the finish line.
Take a short break
When you feel exhausted from working so hard and pushing toward the finish line, take a short break but don’t quit.
You may feel discouraged, stuck, and overwhelmed and need much time to go on a vacation, on a walk, or allow yourself to take a lazy day. This might be the best way to take you to a better and healthier mental and emotional state.
Once you’ve recovered come back to your goal and continue where you left off. Giving your goal some space may be a great way to develop fresh new ideas that help you keep going. Instead of having a job burnout, it’s a good thing to learn to take a break.
“The difference between winning and losing is most often not quitting.”
Walt Disney
Use Failure As a Stepping Stone
Most of us have a fear of failure and we avoid failing at all costs. We use failure as an excuse to quit. But the truth is challenges and failure are part of the race of life especially when you look at them in the right way.
You need to develop a growth mindset and look at failure and challenges as opportunities to grow and learn. They are a stepping stone to greatness. All the people you admire that have a lot of money at one point failed at something but they kept going until they achieved their big goals and dreams.
Reflect on what you’ve accomplished already
When you feel like quitting on your goals, this may be the right time to reflect on what you’ve accomplished already. That’s why small simple steps are important. You can look at where you came from, the things you’ve changed around you, and even the change from within.
The journey toward your goals comes with making sacrifices so appreciate where you are today. Don’t throw away all that time or effort just because things are a bit tough. Take a break if you need to but definitely keep going.
You set this big, burly goal for yourself without anything in between. You have this huge dream, and that’s okay, but if you’re only looking at the huge dream and not the everyday things that will take you there, then you’re not going to make it.
There are different reasons why you may feel like giving up on your goals. It may be job burnout, an obstacle, a lack of discipline, or a lack of support. Whatever it is know that there’s always a solution and you can make it when you put the time and effort into reaching where you need to go.
These are the 14 Best Strategies to Avoid Quitting On Your Goals. Go the extra mile and never stop moving. When you reach the finish line, you’ll realize that it was all worth it.
My Game Plan Workbook (free resource)
The “My Game Plan Workbook” will walk you through…
- Creating a deep-rooted why that will make you take action on your goals
- Drafting a roadmap for stepping-stone goals and habits to bring that goal from start to finish in a stress-less, no hustle kind of way
- Reflecting on your progress to reset each week so that you’re not just working hard and going around in circles.
