Are you the type of person who sets a goal and then work hard towards it until you’ve achieved it? Or maybe you set a goal, works towards it, but when you don’t see the results you desire you completely abandoned ship? Or maybe you’re neither? Maybe you just sort of say out loud all the things that you want for yourself but you can’t seem to back it all up with action?
Well guys I’ve been there, done that, and I can honestly tell you that achieving a goal is not always as easy as it may seem. Yes, this will vary from goal to goal, and even from person to person. However, when it comes to our health and wellness and wanting to achieve personal and meaningful goals related to that, it’s never easy.
This is because reaching these goals will require you to undergo a transformation of some sort. This can include things such as changing your mindset about the way you approach your goals, or possibly eliminating bad habits that aren’t going to help you reach your goals. You may find that you might even have to adopt unfamiliar habits that will help you reach your goals, and even completely switch up your daily schedule and routine.
If you really want to reach a personal and meaningful health and wellness goal you are going to have to make necessary changes. There will be changes that you’re going to be reluctant to making and even adopting, but they will be necessary. Of course, these changes are going to vary from person to person and goal to goal, but no goal can be achieved doing the same thing you’re already doing.
You know this because if it could then it wouldn’t be a goal for you. It would be something you already have and are not striving to achieve. Since that is not the case this means that something has to change in order to help you get there.
All change isn’t easy and there may be times we find ourselves becoming burnout with these new changes. I want you to know that is normal when striving to achieve a goal. So, don’t freak out and don’t give up! Instead, keep these tips in mind the next time you find yourself struggling to adjust to necessary life changes to help you reach your goals.
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Do everything in moderation
When first tackling a goal, we want to do as much as possible upfront. This is because we tend to trick ourselves into thinking that the more work that is done beforehand the easier the journey will be.
Wrong.
If anything, this will cause us to become extremely overwhelmed and can potentially make us lose motivation to keep going. When working towards a long-term goal you have to understand that it’s a marathon not a race. Which means that you have to be as prepared as possible before you dive right into the process.
This may look something like taking the time to meal prep, stretching every day, increasing your water intake daily, going to bed earlier, or even waking up earlier. There are tons of things that you can do to be prepared to tackle any goal. The way in which you prepare yourself is going to depend entirely on what your long-term goal is.
For example, if you’re striving to lose a certain amount of weight you need to plan out the little things that you can do daily to help you do so. So maybe 15-minute daily exercises, meal preparation for the week, and changing your diet to a plant-based one.
No matter what your goal is the key to successfully achieving it is doing everything in moderation. Don’t try to do a lot of the hard work upfront in the hope that you won’t have much to do later on the journey. This is a setup and you will quickly fail.
Instead make a plan for how you will get to that goal and then work towards it one day at a time.
Be realistic about your time-frame
Another trap we tend to fall into is setting goals that we then rush to achieve. These are goals that we desperately want to achieve but we don’t have the patience to work towards it over a certain period of time. So instead of putting in the hard work and practicing patience we try to rush the process by going to extreme measures.
An example of this would be trying to lose a certain amount of weight in a certain amount of time. Back in June I participated in a challenge with a good friend of mines to help put the effectiveness of some of her products to the test. These products guaranteed fast weight lost, an increase in energy, and a better overall immune system.
While I can’t speak for everyone’s experience, I can say from mines that these products did not live up to the hype they put out. This was because they were promising to help you achieve long-term goals in a short period of time. Which means that yes, they will ultimately help you get to your goal, but they don’t instill the discipline needed to maintain those results.
Here’s the deal, short-term goals can be achieved in a shorter period of time. Long-term goals will require more time.
One major way to not give up on achieving your goals is to understand the difference between short-term and long-term goals. Once you understand this, you can then begin to craft out realistic time frames that will help you achieve these goals without exhausting yourself during the process.
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Change your mindset
You have to adopt a better mindset right from the jump. This means understanding that the entire journey to reaching your goal is not going to be all flowers and rainbows.
There will be many times when you feel like giving up, you find yourself struggling to stick to a specific routine, you find yourself no longer interested in the work required to reach the goal, and you ultimately just want to say “screw it” and find acceptance with what you already have.
This is a clear reflection of the mindset you have adopted for the course of your journey. All the things mentioned above are very normal parts of any transformation process and you may find yourself revisiting this mindset many times during your journey.
However, that doesn’t mean it’s too hard of a journey to embark on, your goals aren’t realistic, or that you’re not able to do the work. All this means is that you haven’t taken the necessary time beforehand to prepare yourself mentally for the marathon you are able to participate in.
Adopting a better and stronger mindset is not easy and it doesn’t happen overnight. You have to really dive deep into the thoughts that you have about yourself and your ability to do things, and then begin to rework the way your brain processes it all. This can take weeks, months, and sometimes even years (if you’re not working at it daily) to accomplish.
Once you tackle this huge hurdle any feelings of giving up you may have about achieving your goals will melt away.
Implement positive affirmations
Something I have found to make the time it takes me to achieve any long-term goal easier is to consistently repeat positive affirmations to myself out loud every morning. Doing so in the morning helps me adopt a positive mindset (see the tip above) and actually stay motivated to work towards my goal daily.
Positive affirmations have many great benefits mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. They can help to strength your mind, help you maintain motivation, and keep you in a positive state of mind. All of this is necessary when working towards any goal. This is because the more time that is needed to achieve a goal, the more draining it can be.
Positive affirmations work in the same fashion as changing your mindset does. The perspective you choose to adopt will ultimately determine the vision you will create for yourself. If you want to envision yourself being successful then you have to adopt the mindset that no matter what you will be successful.
Having positive affirmations to go along with it makes the challenge less intimidating.
Reward yourself often
Plain and simple reward yourself. I use to believe that rewards hold you back from working towards your goals but over the years I’ve learned to view rewards in a different light. When working towards a goal I try to reward myself weekly or bi-weekly. This is because the more often the rewards are the more likely you are to keep that momentum going.
When I reward myself after a week of doing all the necessary things to reach a goal, I feel so proud. I feel like all my hard work wasn’t for the hell of it. Most importantly I feel appreciated and acknowledged by myself by recognizing I deserve to be rewarded for my hard work.
This is so important because it’s easy to lose sight of your purpose when working towards any goal. We can get caught up in doing the necessary work and forget why we started to begin with.
For example, in the beginning your purpose for losing weight can be to not be overweight. When you fail to reward yourself for your hard work that purpose can get lost. Instead you’re now losing the weight because you like the attention you may getting as a result of it.
Rewards can help you stay grounded in your truth which is something you are going to need when working towards any goal.
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Have fun
The most important thing to do when embarking on a journey to achieve your goals is to have fun. Don’t get caught up in the idea that you have a goal to achieve and you have to take every little thing you do get there seriously. Instead understand that working towards your goals are little life experiences you get to have.
Even if it’s a goal that you are working towards for the second or third time around, your approach with it is going to be different every single time. A big part of this will be because you’ve done it before and you know what helped you be successful and what held you back the first time.
But it’ll also be different because each time you take the journey it’ll be a completely new experience.
The impulse to give up is ultimately the result of “failing” or not doing your best. When we don’t give 100% to something, we don’t feel great. We then begin to find excuses to justify why we couldn’t reach our goals, or why we weren’t able to give our all. These excuses pile up on one another before we just feel an overwhelming amount of guilt, unhappiness, and the want to throw in the towel.
Long-term goals, such as personal health and wellness goals, are not meant to be achieved within hours, days, or weeks. It’s a process and a journey and will take time. Avoid the want to give up by removing the seriousness of achieving a goal from the experience.
Instead for every little activity you do to help you get there find the fun in doing it. Whether this is with music while you exercise, having a friend participate in something with you, or maybe even setting up mini challenges for yourself. Find a way to make the experience fun.
Conclusion
Wanting to give up on achieving a goal is a natural part of life. However, the constant thought of doing so can eat away at your soul. It’s ok to experience setbacks, to have moments of wanting to give up, and to admit that you’re not doing your best.
What is not ok is beating yourself up when you don’t achieve a goal. Goals take time, especially long-term goals, and they will require you to be patient and consistent. Can it get tedious? Yes. Is it worth it? 1000%!
These are just a few things that I do to keep guilt out of my life for not achieving a goal, and to help me stay focused and committed to reaching my goals. What are some things you do?
-Xo
Kimora