Do Not Approach Your Ambitions Half-Heartedly
The late American ministry Norman Vincent Peale summed it up best in his book You Can If You Think You Can, writing a chapter titled: It’s Always Too Early To Stop. He had been making the case for persisting rather than quitting beforehand. Even though the advice is applicable, it is going to be dependent on the situation we face. By way of instance, if you’re in a business losing money, it may be sensible to stop and channel your energy into another enterprise. There are other options that might require pivoting the business in another direction but with the very same principles. Consider this in your own life. Are there any areas where you would like to give up? It may be related to: a relationship, career, family situation, education or something else?
Think about what you aim to accomplish by quitting? Can you relieve yourself of the stress and burden associated with that? A business mentor I worked with a while past used the following metaphor to describe our relationship to targets. He would state goals are like swimming in the open water out of 1 land area to another. During the swim we’ll find ourselves at the midway stage and far from the end line. We can’t see our destination but know it’s there. He explained there are two choices available to uscontinue to swim toward our destination understanding we shall eventually arrive give up and swim back to our starting point. It’s what many people experience regularly with our targets. Even if we haven’t achieved success, it doesn’t mean we aren’t making progress.
I have had a personal vision to be an internationally acclaimed writer and one day write a bestselling book. Whilst I am yet to attain it, I’ve accomplished other successes which represent milestones towards my targets. I wrote three books that were published individually, each of these with forewords written by internationally acclaimed writers. The point I want to make is that progress is progress, however slow we’re working towards our targets. Success and achievement can occasionally fall into our lap when we least expect it. However, we have to maintain the stadium working consistently rather than rest on our laurels. We can’t approach our aspirations half-heartedly because the world will deliver less than desired outcomes. Consider this in your own life. Are their targets or projects you have been working on without signs of success? How does this impact your excitement? Are you passionate and dedicated to them?
Light The Fire Of Fire And Enthusiasm
I don’t mean to describe why quitting is the easy way out because sometimes quitting is the only way out. It will be based on the situation and exactly what we set out to attain. Personally, I have a burning desire to advertise self-empowerment and help others awaken their greatest potential, through talking and writing. I’m committed to my fantasy, no matter the obstacles and challenges I face. And yes, there have been a number of setbacks through the years. I have come close to stopping and the one thing that stopped me was a fantastic night’s sleep. I have read countless books on people who suffered similar challenges and triumphed. I have also read biographies of people who persisted and neglected. The one true constant I will draw from my experience is that in the event that you’ve got an itch, you have to scratch it until you’re satisfied you’ve done your very best. Until then, keep pursuing your goals until you realise them can no longer take the pain.
How are you feeling about that? Are you getting a feeling your dreams and goals aren’t something to be taken lightly but pursued with persistence and passion? I really don’t know the answer to whether you ought to quit. In actuality, in my training sessions, I often tell clients I will help them push the needle as close to success as you can, but I can’t guarantee it, as there are a number of factors outside our control. Besides, I would not want to make that promise and I’d caution you to beware of the ones that do. By way of instance, we can’t control the market, nor life’s forces acting upon us. We can’t control whether we succumb to illness or other conditions that derail our progress. What we can do, is to light the flame of enthusiasm and passion and also make sure we show up to the job at hand. We can honor our best intentions, in spite of the outcome. We appear diligently, knowing what we put our mind and soul to will transpire in the best manner, or at least teach us invaluable insights.
Quitting early relieves us of their capacity to give ourselves wholeheartedly to our goals and dreams. It robs us of our fighting spirit because we know to choose the path of least resistance, rather than this one lined with courage, hope and persistence. Life is replete with setbacks, challenges and at times, suffering and denials. But this mustn’t prevent us from pursuing what we’re passionate about. Because if you really want something, as the Brazilian writer Paulo Coelho wrote in The Alchemist, the whole universe will conspire in assisting you to achieve it. With that in mind, I ask you to consider areas of your life where you need to quit. How can you reframe your connection with quitting? How can you develop increased resiliency and grit? It was Winston Churchill who once said:”Success is the ability to go from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm” Therefore, how do you stay motivated and intentional about your goals and ambitions? The trick to your success lies in your intrinsic motivation and it’s only once you answer that question, are you going to discover whether it is too early to stop.
