What to do when you feel like quitting or giving up on your goals

Do you ever feel like everything is going against you in trying to reach your goals for your life or business? That you have tried it all and nothing is working? Instead of growing, your life or business (and your confidence) is shrinking?  Do you ever wonder why you’re doing this in the first place? Do you ever feel like throwing in the towel and calling it quits?

If you do, you aren’t alone. I have felt that way several times. I’ve been doing this CEO of Me thing since 2005. It’s had highs and lows but even when I feel like jumping off the ride, I know things will even out, settle down and start working again soon if I simply hang on.

I know this because I’ve seen it work that way time and time again, for myself and for others.  I also know that there is no success without failure, there is no confidence without fear and there are no rewards without sacrifice. It’s part of the process.

As difficult as it is, we have to learn to trust the process and grow through our difficulties instead of giving up.  It’s okay to have bad days and even weeks just make sure you don’t let yourself stay in that bad place for too long.

Here are 5 things I have learned about how to work through difficult times in your business (and life):

1. Take a step back and rest. If you are feeling overwhelmed and like nothing is going right, sometimes the best thing you can do is simply take a step back. Give yourself some space and time to rest, to renew and refresh.  You can’t pour from an empty cup. You have to take care of yourself first before you can take care of your business and others.  Often times when we are in the middle of a difficult situation, all we can see is what is front of us.  Take a short break. When we take a step back and get ourselves out of that frustration, we can see the bigger picture and new ideas and paths will show up for us.

2. Go back to your vision & your why.  When you take your eyes of the road, you start going over the lines and often times end up wrecking your car. It’s the same way in your business.  If you take your eyes off your vision, your goals, your why and your purpose, you’ll start to get off track and end up in a ditch of despair before you know it.  Revisit your vision, if it doesn’t resonate anymore, create a new vision board, new goals and a new plan for success. Take some time to write out your 30 day or 90 day or 12 month vision for your life and business. Reconnect with what makes you feel excited and passionate and purposeful.  Keep focusing on your goals, don’t look any direction but straight ahead.

3. Get out of your head and get into momentum. “Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy.” – Dale Carnegie After you have taken a break and refocused on your vision, take action. Don’t overthink the action you take. Do something positive to move yourself forward. Start in an area that comes easy to you, that you enjoy and that you know you can get some quick results and wins with. This will help you feel a sense of accomplishment and get the momentum going so you can start to feel more positive about your life and/or business.

4. Reach out for help and support. Everything feels worse than it is when we try to handle it by ourselves. You don’t have to go through the tough times alone. Reach out to a team member, your upline, a fellow direct sales sister, a friend, a family member, get support in the FB groups and coaching programs you are part of or join one like my Success Club community.  You are not the only person to have these struggles and it doesn’t make you any more brave to try to get through it by yourself. Be willing to accept support, encouragement and help. In doing so you can make some great connections, friends and accountability partners. You will also realize that others go through the same struggles and be able to learn and gain confidence from their experiences.

5. Focus on serving and helping others. Nothing gets my mindset and purpose reset like doing something for someone else. Fear can be a selfish thing because it makes us only focus on what might happen to us. When we focus on helping and serving others, we are able to push past that fear and not worry so much about the outcome because it’s no longer about us.  In all my years being self-employed this has always caused the biggest shift in getting my business, my confidence and my passion lit up again. “We rise by lifting others.” – Robert Ingersoll  Serving others reconnects and realigns my mindset, energy and actions with my purpose and mission.

You aren’t alone. We are all on the same journey, just at different places with different stumbling blocks and paths we are going down. Keep taking the next step and stay focused on your vision and reaching your goals.

PS. Want more tips to shift from fear & frustration to confidence & productivity? Sign up here for my CEO Shift Challenge.