A simple guide on how to back on track if you lose interest in your own goals.
Ever set a goal and after sometime lost interest in the Goal? Then this post is for you.
People set their own goal, then why do they lose interest in their own goal?
There are multiple reasons why people lose interest in their own goal. Some of the major reasons are,
- Impractical Goal Setting
- Too Many distractions
- Having multiple goals at a time
Lets see them one by one,
1. Impractical Goal Setting:
The Goals set when our hopes are too high, are mostly impractical to achieve. After listening to a motivational speech or reading a motivational blog/book, your hope level will be high. The goals set at that time, will be high and you will try to push yourself at your best, by not taking the limitations. You will have a self thought that "I can do anything".
That is probably true and you will have unmatched energy at that time. But after some days, if you cannot keep up your energy, you will feel the limitations draining your energy, you will start to think about the goal as not practical one. Once you convinced your subconscious mind that it's too impractical to achieve, you tend to lose your interest in that goal and move to something else.
Let's take an example, One day Mr. X had a nice chat with one of his friends and was in a good mood. He also watched a motivational video. He decided to set the course of his life upwards and become a millionaire. He sat down and created a Goal for that like "I will become a Millionaire in a Year". Then he started preparing monthly, weekly and daily targets for the goal (Goal Setting). He started to follow the targets religiously for a few days or even a few weeks.
After some time, he analyzed and found that the plan he created is not suitable for his current routine and he is unable to cope-up. Sometimes he is unable to do his daily targets which results in him announcing his day as failure to achieve his grand target. These circumstances may feed his subconscious mind, that he cannot achieve his targets and eventually it leads to him to lose interest in his goal.
One thing he missed is, the truth, that achieving a big goal is not gonna be a cake walk and there should be some sacrifices. Most of the time, the initial plan backfires and one should always alter the plans on the go (Improvisation).
There are two approaches to fix it.
1. One can re-analyse, when not in high hopes and remodel the Goal to fit to our current situation.
In Mr. X's case, he can analyze again and check why he is not able to complete the daily targets. Are they too impossible to do? If so, then he needs to set more practical tasks/targets to achieve.
if something is not working out, change the plan to different action items to achieve the Goal.
2. One can re-analyse but stick with the impractical route
Sounds funny? But it will also work, if you train your mind to see the results. The best example is Elon Musk.
"If you give yourself 30 days to clean your home, it will take you 30 days.
But if you give yourself 3 hours, it will take 3 hours.
The same applies to your goals, ambitions, and potential." - Elon Musk
As said by Elon Musk, if you give enough of yourself to your goal, you can accomplish it in less time, or even if you may not achieve it you would have achieved what others can't even think of. For this second option, you have to train your mind, not to be distracted or discouraged with the obstacles and the fear of failure.
2. Too Many distractions
One of the reasons we fail to achieve our goal is distractions. People are good at planning, they plan, organise and set targets. But when it comes to completing the targets, most of them failed. Why?
The major reason is “too many distractions”. There is a constant race between Instant Gratification and Delayed Gratification.
Instant Gratification
A short happiness of fulfilling an immediate desire, like watching a movie, spending money on the things which makes us happy for a short time.
Delayed Gratification
A long-term Satisfaction we get after achieving something, like investing money for the future, learning new skills or completing a goal successfully as per the defined target.
Instant Gratification is powerful and so people who couldn’t resist it, are often distracted by other pleasure activities and lose their time and energy. The desire to induce the Instant Gratification activities usually keep on growing and one wont get the feeling of satisfaction. It's kind of feeding the fire. It will always ask for more. The more you give, the bigger the fire becomes.
On the other hand, the activities which lead us to delayed gratification, may not give instant pleasure and sometimes may be boring, but in long run, it will give better results. People who can’t control their urge to mediate pleasure, fail to see the results and lose their interest in their daily targets.
Some of the activities that can cause Instant Gratification - Checking Mails, Spending more time in watching entertainment videos and Social Media, Binge watching Movies/Series.
How to fix it?
First, we have to understand that the pleasure we get in instant gratification won't last longer and the urge will continue forever. The Second step is trying to stick with the schedule. Checking Mails and Leisure time is needed, but give them a smaller window. Give them the last place in the schedule. Give first priority to the tasks in hand and make those leisure activities as a reward for your work. No work means No reward - Make it as a rule and follow it strictly. Self Discipline plays a major role in achieving it.
Read Brian Tracy’s Eat The Frog and James Clear’s Atomic Habits. These are some of the best time investments you can make if you want to overcome bad habits and be productive with your time.
3. Having multiple goals at a time:
Another Major problem for losing interest in your goal is, having multiple goals at the same time. Some people set multiple Goals and are unable to pursue any of them. We may think that achieving multiple goals is possible. But in reality, you won't achieve any of them. In other words, if you focus on only one thing at a time, you will give your 100% at that work and your success rate will be high.
As long as you can have the bandwidth to complete all your defined targets for all your goals, you can have multiple goals. But you also have to take into consideration other factors, like personal life, work-life balance and your social life. You shouldn’t over-burn yourself.
One may think “Why shouldn’t I?, As long as I am comfortable with it”. Over-burying yourself in a long run, may cause depression and other personal problems, which may affect your mental health as well as your primary focus on Goals. So, in the end, you may not be able to achieve any of your goals. So it is better to have one goal at a time and pursue it.
Apart from these, there may be other reasons for losing your interest in your goals. The goal may not align to your interest and may not suitable at this moment. Please share if you want to add any other reason and also share your feedback.
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