You had big goals.
Yet, you have fallen off of them lately.
Your goals have been sitting idle, but you still want to accomplish them. Even though you are down, you haven’t given up.
What will it take for you to get back up and pursue your goals?
Falling Down on Your Goals
You were going to get into shape. You were going to write a book. You were going to look for that new job or career.
What happened?
Quite simply, you fell down. You fell off your goals.
Perhaps, you are tempted to give up and let them go. Or a better choice is to do what you do anytime you fall down… you get back up and try again.
“Getting back up is always the first step when you fall down.” (Tweet this Quote)
So, what is stopping you today from getting back up and pursuing your goals again?
Get Up and Get Going!
Today is the day to pick yourself up and give your goals your all.
Get up. Get going.
Here are 7 Ways to Get Back Up and Pursue Your Goals:
- Take Action – It’s easy to let a fall paralyze your resolve. Don’t mire yourself in misery. Don’t let a failure keep you down physically or emotionally. Get up. Take action. Take a first step. Getting back in motion is key.
- Re-Group – Do you need to recharge or re-group before taking on your goals again? If you are working out, maybe you have an injury that you need to nurse before continuing. Or perhaps, you need to learn a new skill before advancing. Re-group yourself and your reources so that you are even more prepared for your next advance on your goals.
- Make a Plan – Charging boldly into your goals can feel great, yet without a plan you may be rushing into the wrong direction. Make a plan and chart your course to success before wildly exerting yourself.
- Write Down the Lesson – Instead of just saying, “Yeah, I won’t do that again.” (Which might not be the right answer anyway.) Take a moment to write out what you learned. Write the lesson down in your journal. Taking a few minutes to spell out what you learned makes a bigger impact than simply shrugging it off.
- Get Some Perspective – What you may have seen as utter failure may not have been that dire after all. We tend to grade ourselves much harsher than the real world. Get some perspective on your situation from a friend or trusted advisor.
- Practice, Practice, Practice – If you want to do better next time, you have to practice. What did you fall down on? A job interview? A presentation? Rehearse the event with a friend or even the mirror. You’ll be more polished the next time.
- Get Determined – You may have fallen down. But, don’t let that reduce your resolve. In fact, bring your energy, drive, and passion to every attempt at your goals. A setback can provide even more motivation for the next time.
Get Back in the Game
When you fall down on your goals, the most important thing is get back up.
Get out there and try. Get back in the game.
After all, you can’t win if you are sitting out.
Question: What goal have you fallen down on? What do you need to do to “get back up?” You can leave a comment by clicking here.
Some great points. Often times we are too quick to brush off the failure without really reflecting back on what happened. Your point of writing it down would help to go through that step. A lesson learned isn’t really learned until you go through that step and understand what happened.
Agreed. I once worked with an individual who’s mantra was, “I love it when I fail!”
However, the problem was he was not learning “why” he failed, so he continued to repeat the behavior. He was not “failing towards success” he was simply failing “over and over.”
This is a great post Craig. We all experience failure from time to time and #1 and #3 can really help us to get back on track. Thanks for sharing!
Always have a plan. 🙂
Hey Craig, I really appreciate how important point 4 is. As far as career (and startup) goals are concerned I believe in – ‘fail faster to succeed sooner’ – David Kelly, IDEO.
Failure is the 1st step towards success and it’s important to appreciate that at an emotional level. That appreciation might not be easy which is why point 5, perspective is necessary.
It’s tempting to beat ourselves up, but as you say in point 7, we should use failure to strengthen our resolve to get back up and hit a home run!
I am a big believer in #4. Failing without learning simply leads to more failing. I see this in many companies who continue to make the “same mistakes.”
Taking the time to analyze and learn from a failure is where the value lies.
No. 1 is so crucial, I think. Doing *anything* positive always pulls you back on track.
Agreed. Definitely the most important think in my eyes.
As a scientist, I feel like I’ve been trained to fail. I can’t tell you how many of my experiments have been “Oops, that’s not it. Try again.” over and over and over…..
The trick for me is to research my fail before I begin again. Usually, someone has failed before me, or similar to me, and they help me figure out how and why I failed, and how to proceed.
Failing also means I’m trying. That’s how I got to the dissertation stage, and finally got my doctorate. Yippee!
Would you ever tell your child to lower their hopes, goals, and dreams in life? If somebody told your child that those goals were absolutely unattainable, what would you do? Or if for the past 7-10 years of cleaning up your life, going back to school, AND FINALLY your lifelong childhood dreams were actually within reach? But then, you were FORCED to GIVE UP ALL OF THOSE HOPES AND DREAMS due to no-fault of your own. A year ago I was diagnosed with several rare chronic neurologic disorders that have left me totally & permanently disabled at 35yrs old. i have fallen down into the pits of hell sooo many times in my life. since 2010 i was finally going in the right direction. my dream has always been to be a neurosurgeon or a trauma surgeon. but now dt these disorders i cannot even perform the most basic lifesaving skill, CPR, much less surgery. i cant even be a Med examiner bc it would take me over a hr to pick a fiber off of the body. so… nowi have to rethink my entire future w/o the knowledge of how long i have. having to reevaluate my strengths,weaknesses,future health issue/limitations, etc. to say the least i have been trying to just make it one day at a time. i cant even think of a brand/logo/business… i cannot let myself get angry/bitter over what i already have, but now try to look fprward to a whole fresh new start.
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