Why Do So Many People Quit On Their Goals?
Think of a goal…any goal. It has to be worthy and of value.
Got one?
Now ask yourself how many people have achieved this goal. The undeniable fact is that only a minority of people would have attained this goal.
It doesn’t matter if the goal is to have a long-lasting marriage or millions in the bank or a set of six pack abs. There will always only be a small percentage of people on the planet who has achieved this goal.
Why is this so?
What do they have that the rest didn’t?
The answer in most cases is that they lasted the distance. They finished what they started. Most people never achieve their goals because they quit too soon.
How soon is too soon?
Too soon is any time before you’ve achieved your goal. Now let’s look at why millions throw in the towel instead of staying the course.
They Forget Why They Started
It’s always fun to embark on a goal in the beginning when the promise is clear. You can almost taste success even if you’ve not done anything yet. The goal seems within reach and you can already feel how attaining it will change your life.
This is how most people feel…and that’s awesome because it spurs them to get started.
However, as with most challenging goals, the journey will take time. It’ll require effort and many times you’ll fail along the way.
This journey weakens the resolve of most people…and after a while, they forget why they started.
They no longer feel the burst of motivation they felt at the beginning. All they see are the hard yards ahead of them. They tire of the persistent effort required – and they quit.
What they fail to realize is that every goal/dream has an invisible price tag attached to it. That price must be paid with your time, effort, sweat, pain and sacrifices.
If you’ve not attained the goal, you’ve not paid your installments in full. Keep paying the price UNTIL you achieve your goal.
Unrealistic Expectations
It’s easy to see someone else’s achievements and believe that you deserve the same as them. Often, we only watch the show on stage without seeing the work that went behind the show.
The hard work and discipline are not shown to the public because it’s dull. We only see the Olympic gold winning performances without seeing the thousands of hours of training involved.
We only hear the beautiful piano music at the concert without seeing the years of practice involved to play at such a level.
It’s always the end-product that is shown. Never the process.
Because we only see the result, we don’t have a clear idea of the amount of pain required to achieve it. Very often, we severely underestimate the time and effort necessary to achieve these goals.
So when people embark on a goal, they expect fast results. They’ve set themselves up for failure from the get-go by underestimating the demand of goal.
When the going gets long and gets harder by the day, the grind becomes unbearable to bear. They feel like it’s taking too long. They must be doing something wrong…or maybe it’s just not in their ‘destiny’ to achieve the goal.
In reality, the goal just needs more time and work.
Trying To Do Too Much Too Soon
The surest way to fail is to take on more than you can chew. We’ve all heard of people who hit the gym for 2 hours a day…every day…at the start of the year. They’re full of ‘New Year’ energy.
Very often, these same people never used to exercise much before that.
With each day, their muscles become sorer and the workouts more draining. They start dreading the gym and it’s just a matter of time before they start skipping workouts.
One skipped workout becomes two…and next thing you know, even the shadow of the gym hasn’t touched them for 6 months.
They’d have been better off going to the gym for 45 minutes 3-4 times a week. It may not seem like much, but the effort compounded will yield massive results over time.
It’s better to take the slow and steady approach. You can bet your last dollar that you’re in for the long haul. So there’s no point in wearing yourself out right at the start.
The 3 reasons mentioned above are the most common reasons why people quit. Of course, there are other reasons such as fear of failure, lack of self-discipline, a lack of clarity and so on.
But if you just focus on the top 3 reasons mentioned here and avoided making these errors in judgment, most of the other reasons for failure can also be avoided.
Remember why you started on a goal, give yourself time to achieve the goal and avoid trying to do too much too soon just to get faster results. That’s the best way to go about it.
“Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day-in and day-out.” – Robert Collier