Five Reasons Why You Quit Your Goals…Before You Really Try

The months of January and June bring forth new energy for many people.

They represent new beginnings.

They indicate a shift in seasons.

They are also typical time milestones for new goals.

The energy motivates many to pursue something they have been delaying for a while.

That’s until March and August role around….and you realize that you have given up. Again.

How often have you readied yourself for a goal only to abandon it?

I’m on a journey to earning $200K/year with multiple income streams and working less than 20 hours/week. It is an undertaking. As I unpacked that, I realized I was quitting a few of the potential streams before I gave them a fair shot.

I figured because I could do something, and I knew how to monetize it, that I would do it. Wrong. Dead wrong.

I cannot be alone. I am sharing five reasons we give up on a goal BEFORE giving it a fair shot.

TL;DR:

• You underestimated the amount of work required to achieve your goal.
• You overestimated your commitment to the goal.
• You are surrounded by low-standard people.
• You forgot that you did not always know what you know now.
• You do not want the goal deep enough.

You underestimated the amount of work required to achieve your goal.

I’ve learned to approach new goals like new projects. It helps my brain to have a streamlined approach. One key to reaching goals I’ve learned over time is to do your due diligence on the total cost.

Total cost is not always financial and time.

The goal could require you to part ways with previous relationships. It could require you to become better at networking relationships, etc.

One reason you may have given up on a goal prematurely is that you didn’t access how much would be required of you.

Looking at my portfolio of projects, I know I leveraged my ignorance in most cases. Had I known the total cost, I would have quickly walked away.

You overestimated your commitment to the goal.

Affirmations can disguise themselves as false desires if not done well. This means you’re lying to yourself about what you’re willing to do to reach your goals.

Some of us give up prematurely because we didn’t realize we were selling ourselves a dream. Likely, it was someone else’s dream or roadmap.

If not handled well, inspiration can lead you to take on an impulsive project that wasn’t aligned with your true desires.

You are surrounded by low-standard people.

Steve Harvey has this saying that I love so much. He says, “if you want to kill a big dream, tell it to a small-minded person.”

You may not realize how much you have lowered your standards or potential to match your environment. Years of being surrounded by complacency, insecurity, and scarcity will show themselves at some point when attempting to reach your goals.

You forgot that you didn’t always know what you know now.

I’ve found myself abandoning a goal or two after hitting a perceived wall. I shared this perceived challenge with a few (low-standard) people who insisted that maybe it wasn’t for me.

I use perceived with intention.

Have you ever watched a child under age two? They have to learn to do everything for the first time. Once they try something, it’s almost as if it activates them to focus harder on obtaining the outcome.

Sometimes when pursuing our goal, we forget that we did not always know what to do next.

You don’t want the goal deep enough.

I’m not going to quote Simon Sinek here. He has a point about understanding why you want something before you pursue it. I have learned that distractions limit my ability to notice who I am creating goals for.

Are you pursuing something to make your parents proud of you? Is it to get back at the guy who dumped you? Is it to keep up with your friends?

Your big goals need deep roots to ensure they see the light of day. It’s vital to verify what’s connected to those roots.

Bottom Line

Sit with yourself about the direction of your life as we approach the end of 2023. Time will not wait for you to figure out what you want and how to make the most of it. That’s up to you.