Do You Give Up Too Easily?

“I realized early on that success was tied to not giving up. Most people in this business gave up and went on to other things. If you simply didn’t give up, you would outlast the people who came in on the bus with you.” - Harrison Ford

When faced with adversity in life most people just give up before giving themselves a proper chance to succeed. Do you ever start things and then think that you have failed at them before you really give it a chance? I certainly do and I’m sure many other people are the same. Almost everyone will be faced with this dilemma at some point and the more ambitious you are the more often you will face this problem. After months and months of hard work you hope and pray that you will soon see a huge reward for all your efforts and then nothing. Where is that big pay off you have been waiting for? Nothing happens. You’re not rich yet are you? Nothing changed. Did you make it big on your first attempt? Maybe you lost money or the outcome was not what you hoped for. This is the point at which most people start to lose motivation and either give up or find a way to keep going until they figure out exactly what is going wrong. Sadly most of us will feel so frustrated and distressed by our lack of results at this point that we will give up rather than suffer the humiliation of facing these problems again.

Many entrepreneurs end up working hard for ten or twenty years before finally getting the break they need. They key thing to remember is that in order to be successful you have to keep working even when you feel like your efforts are futile and your mind is telling you to just give up. Fighting on in the face of adversity requires a lot of inner strength and courage. This is something that I have started to think about a lot recently. Doing anything worthwhile takes time and you will undoubtedly suffer a lot of setbacks along the way. The real key is to find a way to keep going even when things are not going your way. It is easy to get motivated and excited when we are seeing quick results or things are going out way but what about the times when we don’t?

Here are some tips that should help you get back on track if you have lost your motivation and when you are finding it hard to summon up the courage to keep going.

Take a break

Sometimes the best thing to do when you hit a wall is to take a step backward and reassess your position. Taking a break for a week or so will take some of the pressure off and allow you to recharge your batteries. After months of hard work and not seeing the right results, a week’s break will stop you from burning out and make you feel much more motivated upon returning to your projects.

Reassess your time frame

Most goals take a very long time to achieve properly. If your goal is to get the physique of a supermodel and you’ve been trying hard for six months then start to be realistic about what you are doing. Six months is nothing, it really isn’t. I have been religiously exercising for around six years and I still don’t have a perfect body. All good things take time and usually they take a lot longer than you realize. Setting deadlines is great but you can’t beat yourself up if you don’t achieve success in a few months. If you are setting up an online business then realize that most websites take at least a year before the search engines really give them much attention and bring in regular traffic.

Get another opinion

Sometimes when we are tied to a project emotionally it can be hard to honestly assess how well we are doing and where the problems are. If you can’t figure out what is going wrong then just ask someone else for their opinion. A fresh set of eyes might really help you see your problems with a new clarity. Don’t be afraid to ask for help from other people when you need it.

Think small

All too often when we start a project it is the big results that we are conscious of and not the small things. Chances are that even if you did not meet your ultimate goal then you will have achieved many smaller things that you didn’t even take notice of and give yourself enough credit for. As long as you took action in making your dreams a reality then you did something right. Say for example your project was to launch an online business and make $100,000 dollars in a year. Now this is a huge goal and shouldn’t necessarily feel beaten if you don’t achieve this in your first few attempts. You may not have achieved this goal but you probably did a lot of really great things along the way. Take a look at how much money you did make and what systems you managed to set up that can help you make money in future etc.

Look at the smaller things that you did right along the way. Chances are you made some kind of money, made some new contacts, gained a lot of website traffic, build a good website, learned new skills or had a product you were proud of etc. Take stock of the little things that you did achieve and give yourself a break if you don’t get everything right in the first few attempts. Chances are, as long as you worked hard at your task and learn from your mistakes, then you did far more than most people will ever do. The rest should come with patience.

When faced with problems, I encourage you to keep going until you succeed. Don’t feel defeated when things don’t go your way and try to think about all the things you managed to do right. Be a bit kinder to yourself. Most tasks end up requiring far more work than we initially predict. Before you give up on your projects ask yourself this question:

“Did I really do everything that I could to succeed?”

For almost everyone, the answer to that question will probably be a resounding no. It can be hard to carry on working away when we are not seeing the results we want but if you stick at your task and think smarter then you can solve any problem. Don’t just give up when things don’t go your way. If you never allow yourself to give up then you will never fail.