This last week was hard here at our house. Several hard things happened and we had to make some decisions. Life does that sometimes and it’s good to know how to keep going when the journey is hard.
Would you pick up a book or watch a movie about someone taking a long journey through the snowy mountains by themselves and everything just went perfectly fine? It would be a pretty anti-climactic story.
No near-death encounters with bears, blizzards that derailed the trip, or other hardships that led to self-discovery and perseverance.
When we make a goal and set off on a journey to achieve it, do we really expect that everything will go perfectly fine and it will be easy?
If you make a big enough goal – a goal worth achieving – it is likely going to take time and you are likely to be discouraged along the way.
It is HARD to maintain motivation when we aren’t seeing results right away. It is hard to stick to the plan when we feel discouraged.
Brandon Goleman’s book Emotional Intelligence, states that 15% of success can be attributed to knowledge and education. The other 85% is from dedication, perseverance, attitude, and vision.
This same idea is also in Angela Duckworth’s book GRIT. She shows us that grit can be learned, regardless of our IQ or circumstances.
I think that in order to stay motivated and not give up during a challenging journey towards success, we must take time to truly appreciate the journey and celebrate our hard work along the way.
💥 Appreciate the daily choices you are making
💥 Appreciate the new habits you are forming
💥 Recognize the sacrifices you are making
💥 Celebrate the hard-working, dedicated person you are becoming.
If you cannot follow these actions, you will always be quitting and chasing new goals or be living in fear that you are never going to achieve any goal at all.
Don’t wait until you reach a goal to act like the person who reaches the goal.
Start doing that now.
It will make achieving that goal easy to step into. And you may even notice the outcome of the goal becomes less important because you are appreciating and celebrating your progress and performance in a whole new, wonderful way.
The Bible tells us to keep going. To persevere. God has promised to always be with us. He does not promise that life on this earth will be easy. In fact he promises the opposite in John 16:33.
But God is always with us. Even when we have doubts and even when life is hard. We need to keep going.
As I get older I see now that God has helped me to grow through many of the hard times in my life.
I’d love to hear in the comments a goal that you are working towards right now!
Are you looking for a coach to help you through some tough times? Need some guidance on your next best step? Let’s talk!
Comments
One response to “How to Keep Going When the Journey is Hard”
Struggles or the path to a goal are proof of being human. Sometimes like stepping stones-one step at a time. Self determination is the motivational path to a journey. Health and wellness are very important. There is no magic bullet to health and especially to weight loss and fitness. Many have tried and have destroyed their health totally. As to determination smiles are more important that tears. At a young age it does help with ego to want to noticed but as to the older the journey is to last longer. Journaling we all know it’s an uphill battle but never let that deter the end results. God is our co-pilot on all journeys in Life