Life is hard. We will try and try again. We will also fail and fail again. You sike yourself up to try after failure, yet fall short again. Not many people can continue this process for long. Of course, they want to succeed but, the repeated roadblocks, setbacks, and lack of success can cripple a person’s spirit. How do the people who keep advancing, do it? What is their secret sauce? Do they ignore the failures? Are they in possession of some superhuman powers? Why have you given up or not even tried to pursue your goals? The best question for you to answer is Who else do you do it for?
It’s simple. It is easy to let yourself down. You can talk yourself into the worst things. It isn’t difficult to explain away giving up on something hard to yourself. You know how hard it is. You know the pain of failure. You’ve experienced the downs and the only ups so far come in the form of imagining success. With all these being true, telling yourself to quit is a simple as saying “Stop.” There is no doubt that all of us want to succeed. We all set goals and receive the immediate gratification. The feeling of success. The false feeling of success gives us the energy and belief for the first try but is taken away by the first failure. We then begin to question ourselves and realize the amount of work required to complete the goal. For the majority of us, the plans are a secret. This approach helps with keeping failure a secret. The negative of this secret is doing more harm than good. You are the only person that is aware of your goal. You didn’t bring anyone in on your objective so, there are no external expectations for you. The issue? When you tell yourself “Stop” there is no one to give you a reason to say “Go.”
The “Go” is why telling others your goals help. You don’t need to broadcast it to the world. The important people in your life knowing you have a plan is a huge benefit. You may read the prior sentence and think of how many times you’ve heard to keep your goals a secret, move in silence, go away and come back when you have accomplished the target but, these inspirational quotes are faulty. You are giving yourself a better chance at success when you have others you care about to hold you accountable. This better chance is because you began to work for yourself and your loved ones. Tell your significant other you want to buy a house. Tell your kids you plan to build a pool. Tell your parents you want to retire them. Most of the blogs here advocate looking internally for strength. This method is great to put into practice. As stated in the beginning, not everyone possesses the same amount of internal power. The secret sauce is external help. It is understandable if you believed you didn’t need external help because that is what the motivational memes say. There is more to life than motivational quotes on memes. Living life will tell you that assistance comes in many forms and from many figures. Use it.
In closing, ask “who else do you do it for”? Have you equipped yourself with extra “Go’s” for when you tell yourself to “Stop?” Have you given yourself the additional responsibility of bringing others in on your plans? Will you allow your fear of failing to strip you of your chance at success? Answer these questions. The most important takeaway is gaining allies while in the pursuit of your journey. The thought of quitting will be met with the idea of your success benefiting others in addition to yourself. Letting loved ones down is not easy to do. This barrier is a powerful weapon. You’ll never want to have a conversation about letting down the ones you love with yourself. Never.
Food for Thought…You Do the Dishes!
