When you’re in the process of working on a goal, it can be difficult to notice any progress. You’ve put the hours in, and yet, it’s unclear whether you’ve actually moved the needle any closer to where you want to be.
So, what do you do?
If you’re like the majority of people in the world, you quit. You feel like you’ve been stagnant for too long and you should’ve seen results sooner. You’re not moving fast enough. You’re not meeting your own expectations and you eventually conclude that it’s just easier to throw in the towel. Sound familiar?
In the same way that you don’t notice your face aging in the mirror, you also don’t see your daily progress towards your goals. Without taking a step back and looking at the big picture, we tend to be ‘too close’ to notice any real evidence of progress. And, if we do happen to notice some progress, it’s usually nowhere near as much as we wanted.
When you think there’s no (or not enough) progress, you probably say something along the lines of, “I’m not making any progress, this is too hard…I give up!” The worst part is that many of you actually do give up. You give up on your fitness goals, growing your business, nurturing relationships and so on. You abandon your goals and to justify your decision to give up, you tell yourself a bunch of lies.
These lies can stifle your growth and progress, which is why I want to take some time to discuss them further. So, keep reading to discover why the excuses you tell yourself about why you can’t or shouldn’t do something are just lies in disguise!
Stop being so quick to quit!
When something becomes ‘too difficult’ to pursue, it’s tempting to move onto something else that we can see results from.
Maybe you have a goal to lose 10 pounds. It’s an achievable goal but for some reason, you’re not seeing the results you hoped for. So, you grab a tub of cookie dough ice-cream from the fridge and chow down for the night, telling yourself you’ll go back on your diet tomorrow.
The problem is that you’re expecting too much too soon. If you want to lose 10 pounds, you need to put the work in and celebrate each pound or half a pound lost along the way.
Here’s a quote from author, philanthropist and life coach, Tony Robbins:
“Most people overestimate what they can do in a year and they underestimate what they can do in two or three decades.”
In other words, we tend to set our expectations far too high for what we can realistically achieve in a year. But what if you never gave up on your goals? What if you paid your debts one penny at a time? You might not see the progress in the moment, but in a few weeks, months or years, you’ll look back and see how far you’ve come.
If you didn’t give up because it is ‘too hard’ or ‘not working’ and started celebrating the small wins and achievements along the way, you’ll see that you’re much closer to reaching your goals than you thought.
We’ve got to stop being so quick to quit!
