So, you’ve done your mid-year review and you’ve realised that you’ve gotten off track from your goal.
Don’t beat yourself up about it. It happens to the best of us.
We would all love to be laser focused on our goals all the time,
but the reality is that we still have our day-to-day responsibilities. Sometimes we shift our focus and get side
tracked from our goals. The good news is
that you can still get back on track.
Before you get back on track, you need to understand why you got side tracked. Some reasons could be :
You’ve lost focus. Perhaps your energy needed to be on a crisis at work, with your family or friends, or you needed to focus on studies. Now that the crisis is over, you don’t feel motivated to start working on your goal again. That’s ok. Take a break and get some rest. Just remind yourself that you have to go back to working on your goal again.
You’re distracting yourself by focusing on the wrong thing. Is what you are focusing on really important right now? Where does your focus really need to be right now? What do you really need to be doing right now?
You started to feel overwhelmed with all the changes taking place and decided to take a break from your goal. As you get closer to a transformation you will feel uncomfortable, and you will start to feel afraid of that these changes are taking you out of your comfort zone. When this happens, remind yourself why you set your goal, and why you wanted a change. Reflect on why you are afraid, what will happen and what won’t happen if you don’t make the change.
You tried something, and it didn’t work out the way you planned. It’s normal to get de-motivated by this. The trick is to change your mindset about this “failure”. Rather than thinking that it was a failure, understand why it didn’t work out, and what you can do differently the next time. There’s always a plan B (or C, or D). Figure out what yours is.
Your goal no longer makes sense to you. Sometimes when you are working towards a
particular goal, you realise that the goal is not meeting your needs
anymore. That’s a great sign because it
means you are growing and challenging yourself, so your needs are
changing. Re-look at your goal and see
what needs to change to make it more relevant and inspiring for you.
Now that you understand why you were off track, you can
start re-focusing on your goal again.
4 steps to get back on track
1. Remember your why
Remind yourself why you wanted to make the
change in the first place. What were you
unhappy with in the first place? Why was
it important to you to make the change?
2. Figure out what you need to do to get back on track
Once you’ve figured out why you lost track, make a list of the things that you need to do to get back on track.
3. Start again with small steps
Pick one small thing that you can do today
to get back on track.
Do it!
Then pick something you can do the day
after.
Do that too!
Keep finding small things that you can do towards your goal to build your momentum again. As you do these things, your confidence will grow, and you can start focusing on the bigger steps that you need to take.
4. Get an accountability partner
Whether it’s your coach, a friend or your
partner, find someone who will hold you accountable. Let them know what you intend to do and give
them the permission to call you out when you don’t stick to your guns.
Change takes time and perseverance. Learn what you can from your setback and let
it go. Then start taking those steps to
get you back on track.