How to Overcome Setbacks and Really Accomplish Your Goals
This week has been grueling for me, both physically and mentally. For the first time since starting my Ironman journey in October, I had serious negative thoughts to overcome that threatened to derail me completely. Since I started my 30-week training plan, I’ve been traveling nearly every week, and this week it caught up with me. I thought back to my original plan I developed at the start of new year. I looked at where I’ve actually been and realized that nothing has gone according to plan. I’ve had multiple injuries, my time management skills have been stretched to the max, and my plan did not include 12 weeks of airports and hotels! Somehow, I’ve managed to stay on track.
Photo courtesy ncanup (flickr.com/ncanup)
If you’re like me, you’re looking at the calendar thinking, “Wow! March is almost half over!” How are you doing on your goals? Are your New Year’s resolutions still on track? If not, here are some strategies I use to recover from setbacks and make steady progress towards any goal you might have.
5 Ways to Overcome Your Roadblocks
- Be Flexible – Plans are never static (see my article on Executing Great Plans) In fact, one thing you can always plan for is change. When things happen that are out of your control, don’t panic! Think about how you can modify your plan. When I found out I had to travel, I panicked, wondering where I would find a pool for my swim workouts. My wife, with a cool head, looked at my schedule and said, “why don’t you swap a swim day with another workout.” She was right! But, in my panicked state, I wasn’t being flexible.
- Be Consistent – Consistency does not mean perfection! When you have slip-ups, they are just momentary deviations from where you want to be. I struggled with this for years. I would try diets and exercise routines month after month. If I messed up once, I would throw in the towel completely. If only I had learned from the mistake and just kept going, I would be a lot thinner now! You wouldn’t sell your car because you get one flat tire. Likewise, don’t give up when things don’t go perfectly
- Be Accountable – Find people to hold you accountable. When I signed up for the Ironman, I knew I would need a lot of external pressure to keep me going. So, I told everyone I knew, started this blog, and committed to a charity. If I don’t go through with this, I’m going to have serious egg on my face. I am 100% accountable to a lot of people.
- Be Realistic – Know your limits. Maybe you set an unrealistic goal and have to adjust. My advice here is not to give up completely (See #2), but instead adjust it down to a comfortable (but still challenging!) level. Perhaps you’ve realized you won’t lose 50 lbs. in a month. But, 15 might be realistic. Set a new goal and keep going!
- Be Lighthearted – Sometimes, we just need to enjoy the ride. We can easily get too caught up in accomplishing, reaching, and arriving, that we forget the journey. I have to remind myself of this often. When you’re not reaching your goals because of setbacks, try to take a step back and enjoy the challenge of it, have some fun, and just consider how much more interesting the journey just became
What other strategies might you use to combat roadblocks and setbacks? How have some of you been successful in accomplishing your goals in 2010?
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