Staying Committed to Your Goals: Overcoming Challenges and Finding Motivation

It’s funny how sometimes the most fundamental saying or catchy phrase can actually be so true. Lately, a classic saying by French writer Antoine de Saint-Exupéry has been repeated in my mind: "A goal without a plan is just a wish.” 

You, I’m sure, have experienced this truth before. Maybe you decided to learn piano, then halfway through researching YouTube videos, or after the first roadblock trying to find a teacher, you just gave up. Maybe it was after a particularly bad month at work that you decided it was time to search for a new job, but after dusting off your resume and realizing how outdated it was, you let the job hunt slide. It was because you had a dream without a plan. Am I right?

“Okay, thanks,” you might say at this point. “I get it. I need a plan. But what if I have a plan, and it’s getting hard to stay on track and keep coming back to the table after things don’t come to fruition? Or am I just so tired of trying without results? Or, it feels like it might be too much to handle; what then?”

Here’s the deal. I can’t give you a magic pill. I’m not going to sit here and tell you that I have a secret formula to success or that you’re even necessarily on the right track.

I will tell you that I’ve tried and failed at many things in life, from relationships to businesses. I’ve also tried and succeeded in just as many adventures. Along the way, I’ve learned a few things about staying committed to life and business goals as a woman and a mother.

Are you ready? Let’s dig in.

Determine What You Don’t Know

While knowing is half the battle, I’ve learned as a business owner, working mother, and female entrepreneur that sometimes, the reason you feel a lack of commitment and confidence in staying on course with your goals is due to the gaps—the unknown places and spaces that can leave you feeling uncertain and insecure.

So, if you’re feeling a lack of motivation or confidence in your work or as you pursue a goal, take a beat. Assess your current situation, and see if you can determine what it is that you perhaps “don’t know you need” or are “not sure should happen.”

I’ll give you an example: when I was starting my first business, I had no idea how to scale it in a way that made sense financially and in terms of my actual capacity. This tripped me up for a long while, and I almost completely burned out because I was trying to do all the work for myself. I finally acknowledged that I didn’t know what the next step should be. The business was rolling in, but I could not manage it – and yet, I was also unsure when or how to hire someone. After speaking with a few trusted professionals about my circumstance, I determined that I needed to hire a recruiting company to help me find my first employee. 

Did it cost me financially? Yes.

Was it worth it? 100%

The company grew to twice its size within months of my hiring my new operations manager. It was the best decision I made, and it started with determining that I didn’t know where to go next.

Focus On the Next Step

Speaking of next steps, if you have the clarity to know the path you want to take to achieve your goals or dreams, yet your commitment to yourself is wavering, try just focusing on the next step.

Maybe there’s a training you need to take in order to be qualified to move forward with your “dream career.”

Perhaps you need to sit down and write out your timeline or action items and it’s tripping you up.

I’ve noticed that often, I begin to see my commitment waver when things get a little tedious. Do you know what I mean?

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Because here’s the thing: Your dreams. Your goals are not going to be realized without work.

I’ll say that again. It takes work to achieve anything worthwhile. 

And that work isn’t always as sparkly and fun as the idea itself. A trained concert pianist may savor and relish playing a beautiful composition in front of an audience. Still, I guarantee you, there was a time when that same pianist was working out the chords and working to overcome performance stage fright, and they almost gave up. Where the work just seemed too daunting to push through to greatness. 

But as the pianist plays and takes in the awe of the audience around them, they are aware that the work brought them to this moment of superb realization.

It starts with the next step. With each little commitment. With each moment or time you push through the frustration or lack of enthusiasm for the task at hand, you bring yourself closer to the goal you’ve envisioned. So take that next step!

Reflect on How Far You’ve Come

Okay, I’m not asking you to sit in reflection all the time. If you did that, you’d never get anything done, right?!

What I am encouraging you to do is to set up a regular appointment with yourself to acknowledge, well, yourself! This is time to reflect on the work you have already done and the mini-goals you’ve already accomplished that are building toward your bigger dreams.

You would be amazed how often this little action, this simple practice has enabled me to recommit to my end goal. Don’t let yourself fall into the trap of constantly moving forward, forward, forward, without reflecting on how amazing you are and how much you’ve accomplished!

John Dewey, the American Philosopher said, “We do not learn from experience…we learn from reflecting on experience,” and this so true. Particularly if you are struggling to commit or recommit to a goal, try reflecting on where you started, and why moving forward is important to you.

Plan a Pause

The planned pause is a powerful tool. It isn’t permission to take an indefinite break, which is different from a planned pause and can lead to truly giving up. What I mean is that when we get too close to a project or goal, it can be hard to zoom out and remember the overall purpose or plan.

In my marketing business, we call this “scope creep.” It occurs when a project starts in one spot and somehow creeps away from the integrity of the original plan and ends up somewhere else.

For this post, let’s call it “goal creep.” This can happen when you let yourself get pulled in too many directions or fail at finishing any one thing because you’re focussing on too many things at once. If you’re feeling lost, overwhelmed, or discouraged by the lack of progress in your life, plan a pause. Let yourself take half a day, an hour, or a weekend to just be, and allow your body and mind time to regroup and recharge.

It’s incredible what realizations can come from just pausing and allowing yourself space to see the path forward.

Realign with Your Motivation

What started you down this road to begin with? Where did your motivation come from to pursue your goal? 

Maybe you’re developing a product, and the outcome somehow helps the world. Maybe you’re hoping to relocate because something in you is drawn to a new area or a new life. Maybe it’s a talent you have dreamed of your whole life because it brings you joy.

These are worthy causes! There are unrealized goals and dreams surrounding each of us, and you get to decide, “How much am I willing to do to see this through?”

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If you’re stuck and feeling a lack of commitment to your goals, realign with your original motivation. Nothing puts a fire under me faster than remembering WHY I am doing what I am doing. It’s so so easy to let the nuances and day-to-day factors suck the motivation out of pursuing a goal or a dream. Don’t fall into that trap.

Remind yourself now, in this moment – write it down if you must – remind yourself, “What is my motivation to pursue this goal?”

Welcome the Pivot

Yep, I saved the best for last! Any seasoned entrepreneur or business owner will tell you how critical it is to be willing to pivot.

Now, let me be clear: A pivot is not the same as giving up or switching to a new goal every time the going gets tough or you reach a roadblock. 

Over my twenty-plus years in business, I’ve learned a lot. I’ve also watched a variety of talented idea people fall into one of two traps (including myself, on occasion).

Trap One: You have great ideas all the time but can never see anything through. You end up with hundreds of half-completed business plans and nothing to show for them.

Trap Two: You have had the same goal and the same plan for the past…well, more time than we’re willing to admit here, but something just never clicks, and you keep pushing the bowlder of your dream up an endless hill, without ever reaching the top. People have tried to give you feedback, insight, and ideas, but you always brush them off because why? Well, of course, you know best!

Do you see the problem here? 

Try to remember that ideas, dreams, businesses, and goals evolve over time, or they die. That might sound morbid, but it’s true.

So while I’m not suggesting that you change course at the sign of the first storm, I am imploring you to pay attention to your surroundings, watch the signs, and perhaps, if you’re feeling a lack of commitment, it’s because you might be ready for a goal-pivot. 

Just food for thought.

What’s Next?

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