How long are you willing to pursue your dream? The truth of the matter is that most people will give up within a short time period because of complications or because the goal appears to be more challenging to attain than originally anticipated.
Research suggests that only eight percent of people achieve their goals. This being said, what are these eight percent doing differently from the 92 percent that never get there? According to researchers, they begin with a very specific goal and they rely on a powerful support system to get through the challenging times.
Giving up is so common that it’s essential to analyze the reasons why most people fail. Here are a few of the key issues and complications that make so many individuals give up on their goals way too soon.
Lack of Discipline
Pursuing a goal necessitates commitment and a lot of discipline. Discipline and the willingness to work hard are often missing. Most people want to reach an end goal without having to sweat for it.
This is probably the number one reason why so many people generate one idea after another but they never move on to the execution stage.
Lacking discipline to put in the effort day after day and without anticipating immediate results is probably the number one reason why people give up.
Even if the task is small, there will still be some level of commitment required. A fickle nature and a bit of laziness make it impossible to continue working and pushing.
Growing one’s willpower is not easy but it’s vital to see goals through to the end. The process starts with a good understanding of one’s strengths and weaknesses. Based on these strengths, an individual can come up with an idea realization strategy that is detailed, focused and manageable.
Putting Too Much Power in the Hands of Somebody Else
We are group creatures. As a result, many people are heavily influenced by others. While positive influences can help a person realize their potential, negative influences will prevent many from pursuing their dreams.
Giving others the power to influence your decisions will probably make you think twice about an idea or a dream you have.
What you perceive as one’s mission could be silly in the eyes of somebody else. Hence, other people’s opinions could lead to the total invalidation of your goal.
A fear of being judged or seen as silly by the community is another reason why many people will give up on their goals very early on. Revolutionary ideas are typically outliers. They’re not readily accepted or adopted by society. People operate on the basis of habit and tradition. Hence, something brand new you intend to do with your life could be seen as ridiculous.
When pursuing a dream, you should confide in a few trusted, similar-minded individuals. Their feedback could be beneficial, helping you fine-tune the idea and bring it to fruition. Everybody else’s opinion doesn’t really have to concern you.
Daily Distractions
Dreams and specific goals require focus and strategic execution day after day.
At the same time, most people have other responsibilities, daily struggles and routines that have become ingrained in their very system.
These routines and traditional shortcuts are often distracting. They keep one from seeing the end goal. The dream becomes way too abstract to pursue and most will give up within a short period of time.
We live in a very dynamic world. Instant access to information, instant access to communication, instant access to entertainment… We have gotten used to leading fast-paced lives and we’ve also gotten used to wanting immediate gratification.
A serious life dream will sometimes require years, even decades to be brought to reality. In the meantime, a person can easily get distracted by the mundane, everyday things. Distractions will eventually take over and the end goal will be lost or forgotten.
Not Believing Enough in One’s Capabilities
Do you believe in your ability to bring an idea to fruition? If the answer is no, you’re similar to most other people.
The lack of belief in one’s abilities and strengths is a common reason for goal abandonment.
Mindset is everything when it comes to breaking out of the routine and doing everything it takes to pursue something challenging but rewarding.
If you don’t think that you’re talented enough, strong enough or creative enough to change your life, you will probably go back to the routine practices sooner or later (for most people it would be sooner).
Even if you’re handled the best of opportunities to pursue your goal, you’ll be hesitant about seizing those. Why? Because you believe that you don’t have what it takes in order to be successful.
A Single Failure is Seen as the End of All Things
Achieving a goal isn’t always a straight and unwinding path. For most, a couple of failures come before the eventual success.
The vast majority of people will give up after the first stumbling block. They will lack the strength to learn a lesson and move forward with the execution of their plan.
In order to be successful you will have to turn every failure into an opportunity. This is what visionaries and successful people do. You can’t anticipate for the pursuit of your dream to always be simple and effortless. Understand the fact that failure is natural. What matters after you fail is much more important than blaming yourself for committing a mistake.
These are just a few of the reasons why so many people will give up on their goals and dreams. Various other things stand in the way. Caring about the end results rather than about the journey, settling for short-term rewards and a refusal to adjust and be somewhat flexible are also detrimental.
If you don’t want to be among the 92 percent who give up, you will have to put the hard work in realizing your goal. Know there will be challenges and come up with an action plan. The more specific your strategy is, the easier you’ll find it to move forward and eventually find success.
Another reason is that’s not important enough. I’ve made goals and then realized that the cost wasn’t worth it, so I made new goals and directed my energy towards those.