Are you in the throes of The Give-Up? Beware ... it's a sneaky
monster that creeps into your psyche little by little and starts leaving
subliminal Sticky Notes all over your mind. It tells you things like:
your efforts toward reaching your goals aren't working; you should
forget it; this is stupid and a waste of time; it's taking too long, so
something must not be right; things definitely should have changed by
now; so-and-so's doing the same thing and it's working for him/her, so
what's wrong with you?
Next thing you know, you're suddenly finding yourself thrown off track with making efforts toward reaching your goal. It's very subtle,
though; The Give-Up is smart (because it's the wickedest, shadiest side
of your ego). It does things like make you oversleep, feel sluggish and
move slower than usual, forget to do things related to reaching your
goal, procrastinate, purposely fail to keep important goal-related commitments to yourself because you just "don't feel like it today," miss appointments that could get you closer to your
goal (due to said moving slower, oversleeping, procrastinating, and/or
forgetting), feel restless and bored, act out in ways that you didn't when you were
filled with hope and courage (insert unhealthy or
non-productive habit of your choice here), say yes to situations and
people that are not only not in your best interest but may also lead you
even further off track where your goal is concerned, not give your efforts your full attention when you're engaged in them—and many other mind tricks. This is just a short list of ways the attack can take place.
When you
start getting discouraged about your goal, that's when your actions
change; your efforts slow down or cease. The Give-Up puts you under its
spell gradually, almost to where you don't even notice until certain
things start happening repeatedly, or several different instances have
occurred over time that you all of a sudden take note of. By then, its
job is done because you're already immersed in a vicious cycle that can
be hard to break.
Because The Give-Up is progressive
(not to be confused with its sibling, The Hasty Quit, which happens
abruptly, during an intense moment of perceived failure and doom), you
could very well have been in the zone for days, weeks, even months
already, and now you're hard pressed to reclaim your spot on the path to
victory.
Here's the piece of info that I'm sure many
of you already know, but it bears repeating: when you're making lots of
progress toward your goal, possibly about to reach it, that's when The
Give-Up gets completely outta hand. In your mind, it's been X amount of
time and you have no [apparent] results on the horizon; so now you're
resentful, and once resentment sets in, you're vulnerable to The
Give-Up's power.
At that point, it doesn't take much to
knock you off track, so it slips in quietly and goes to work on you: an
oversleep here, a few forgetful moments there, followed by some
procrastination, intentional failure to commit, and half-assed efforts, and you're fully
in the zone. You're so distracted by your discouragement that you don't
even realize you're on a downward spiral.
If you find
that The Give-Up has overtaken you, don't beat yourself up. You may be
down, but you're not out, so there's still time to get your mojo back.
Combating The Give-Up requires that you pay close attention to your
actions and feelings when you're pursuing goals and dreams. Obviously,
when you're feeling hopeful and confident about things and you're making
strides, you don't have to worry about getting caught up.
The
fact is, though, every day probably won't be smooth sailing during your
journey, especially if you have an influx of crappy days—or weeks—and
that's when you need to keep your eyes peeled for mood swings, negative
thoughts, and subtle behavioral changes that can lead you into the zone.
If you can catch yourself before you get there, then great. But if you
find yourself drowning in its sea of chaos, then you'll need to employ
some belligerence and diligence to set yourself straight. Depending on
how long you've been down, it may feel like pulling teeth some days to
get back up.
And you have to get back up! If
that goal or dream still burns in your heart, then you owe it to
yourself to continue to pursue it with gusto, no matter what the
scenario looks like. If jumping right back in the saddle and picking up
where you left off all at once feels overwhelming, then take it bit by
bit; regain control of your journey one action at a time, one day at a
time. In whatever ways The Give-Up has you going in reverse, you have to
switch gears immediately. It can be pretty strong, so you need to be
stronger.
Be determined to get back in the driver's seat so you can cross the finish line.
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