How to Get Going Again: Re-engaging With Your Goals
Progress towards a goal is never a straight shot. There will be times when you progress rapidly, and there will be times where things go a lot slower, and forward movement towards your goal is a struggle. Sometimes, you will completely lose forward momentum towards your goals and your activity level may come to a standstill.
Perhaps this standstill is simply because you needed a break, maybe you went on vacation, or maybe you engaged in a period of focused imbalance where you simply needed to let that goal slide for a short time. Sometimes people stop progressing towards their goals because other goals get in the way, or simply because bad habits start to creep in and you end up taking the lazy way out.
It is when your progress is completely stopped, that is when you need to dig deep inside yourself. This is when your true character is revealed. You have two options here: you can let your goals slide – essentially giving up – or you can dig deep and work to get things going again.
Just like a train locomotive, getting started after you have stopped is the hardest part. You have created a “state” when you have stopped, and you need to move out of the stopped “state” into a “state of motion. The law of inertia says that a body in motion tends to stay in motion and a body in rest tends to stay in rest. While inertia is true in physics, it is also true as you work towards meaningful life goals. Thankfully there are steps you can take to get yourself going again and re-engage your goals.
1. Accept the Situation
The first step in getting yourself going again is to accept the situation. When you have let your activity towards a goal slide you are likely disappointed with yourself and that can easily weigh you down. So don’t beat yourself up. It doesn’t help for you to feel bad about what you haven’t done, or to pile up blame on yourself. Even if you should not have let your activity level slide, and even if it is your fault that you are not progressing towards your goal, it doesn’t say anything about who you really are!
By accepting the situation you can learn from what has happened with a focus on the future. Learn what caused you to stop moving towards your goal. Was it an unusual life event, or did the normal things of life get in your way? What do you need to do to make sure that doesn’t happen again? Look at your life’s habits. Did you let some habits slide? Are there new habits you need to create? Analyze what has happened, but always with a focus on the future. Discover how to not let it happen for you again.
2. Revisit your goals
Next, take some time to revisit your goals. Think back to why you want to achieve the goal. Deeply ingrain in yourself an understanding of this WHY. Is the goal really important? If so, you need to clarify this importance and use it to help you build momentum.
Perhaps the goal is not important for your life and in that case you should let it slide. Likely, if you have been thinking about it and acknowledging the need to get back to it, the goal is important. Chances are that you forgot about the importance of this goal and that was part of why you got stalled. If you have ingrained within yourself why a goal is important you will be less likely to quit. For example, I’ve deeply ingrained in myself the importance of exercise and staying in shape. Because of how clearly I see the importance of physical fitness, I’m much less likely to stop working out, even when I’m forced to give up other goals. As a result, even when I recently went through a period of focused imbalance, I was able to stick to my fitness commitment.
3. Start Small
When getting going again in movement towards your goal you need to be willing to start small. You don’t need to, and shouldn’t expect to, jump in at the highest level of activity that you were maintaining before you stopped. You also don’t need to put that level of pressure on yourself. Starting small is acceptable!
Say, for example, that when you are moving towards a certain goal, you used to make twenty sales calls a day. Don’t put that level of pressure on yourself to begin. Start small by simply making one call. Often that first activity is the hardest. Doing anything, even something very small, can help you create momentum and that can build and develop into inertia.
4. Move to Half-Way
After doing something to get started, the next step is to look for an opportunity to get back to your “half-way” activity level. This is where you make a firm commitment that you will do at least half of the activity that would have been considered your full activity level.
This is what I did to get back into the habit of writing. At my full activity level I would write for one hour on four different days each week. To get back into the flow after I stopped, I started by moving to the half way mark. I did this by committing to write for thirty minutes a day for the first week.
Having a shorter time or activity level commitment can help you get started because it is less intimidating, feels easier to do, and gives you a sense of accomplishment. You should notice that I have used the world commitment several times. When you move to half-way, you need to be committed. You can’t simply plan on moving to half-way, or hope to get half-way. If you do, that will never happen. Instead, you need to commit to it, and follow through on your commitment, no matter what. It is this kind of determination that is needed as you try to start moving again.
5. Increase to Full Out Effort
Now that you have moved to a half-way level of action, you can work to build momentum by continually adding in more activities and putting in more time. Set a plan in place on how you will get back to your previous pace. Your plan may be involve a certain date where you move from half activity to full activity, or it may involve a more gradual increase. The key is that you have a clear plan that fits that allows for an achievable way of reaching your previous effort level. Of course, that plan can not sit idle. You must follow the plan and do what it takes to get back to your full activity level.
6. Consider a Period of Massive Action
Often times after a period where you have stopped working or progressing towards your goals, a period of massive action can make a huge difference. This is especially true in many businesses, and in any sorts of sales or marketing. In this situation, you can still take a short while to ramp up your activity level, but instead of stopping at your previous activity level, go beyond! In fact, go significantly beyond and create momentum.
Sometimes a period of massive action will help you make up for lost time and propel you to more rapid success. You may find that this higher level of activity is something you can maintain and that the efforts are really worth it; alternatively, you may find that you need to go back to your previous activity level. Either way you’ll have created more rapid growth and momentum because of your period of massive action.
Remember, just because you’ve let your activity towards your goal slide doesn’t mean that you have any less chance of achieving your goal. Sure you may need to adjust your deadlines if you’ve sat back for too long, but your goal can stay. Readjust your deadline, ramp up your activity and see the success you’ve dreamed about.
Written by:
The Success Professor – Danny Gamache
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Tags: Goals, massive action, momentum, Procrastination, progress, start small, Starting Over
