Success Advice

What To Do When You Want To Give Up

Published

5 years ago

Mar 28, 2014

When you shoot for the stars you risk falling flat on your face; and while you may bounce back quickly the first time, for many, it becomes more difficult to rise again when the pathetic results don’t match the tremendous effort.

Winston Churchill said, “Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm”.

Well what if you have lost enthusiasm?

What happens if you have hit rock bottom and want to give up?

Consider these four strategies before you throw in the towel:

1. Learn the lesson

What’s the point of experiencing the pain of failure if you’re not going to capture a valuable lesson from it? The more you’re willing learn from failure, the less it will intimidate you. When you experience those slumps, refuse to sell yourself the sob story of, “It’s because I’m just not good enough”, or “It’s just not meant to be”; you don’t learn lessons from that kind of self-talk! Instead, focus on improving your strategies; “What am I doing wrong?” or “How can I stay more focused?”

Questions to consider:

– How can this set back make me stronger?

– What can I learn from this failure?

2. Revisit your motivation

When things are bad, negativity will keep you from seeing things as they really are. Rather than focusing your attention on all of your deficiencies, take a few minutes to reflect on why you decided to take this journey in the first place. Keeping things in perspective will give you the strength to keep your head up and run against the wind.

Questions to consider:

– What do I want to accomplish?

– How do I want to be remembered?

– What do I want to become in the process?

3. Make a plan

Its been said,

“Without a plan, there’s no attack. Without attack, no victory.”

The key to triumph is to plan for it. Rock bottom is the perfect place to start building, so while you’re down there, design the blue print for your future success.

Questions to consider:

In order to be successful…

– What do I need to start doing?

– What do I need to stop doing?

– What do I need to continue to do?

4. Keep it simple

Refuse to fall into the trap of trying to make up for all of your mistakes at one time. If your plans for success require a complete mental and behavioural overhaul—start small. Focus on one thing you need to improve, and develop it until it becomes a habit; then move on to the next one. When you’re starting over, you need to recommit to focusing on the process; and if you consistently do so, the results will follow.

Questions to consider:

– What are my priorities?

– What can I control right now?

If you’re currently lying on the canvas listening to the referee counting you out; take courage in knowing that anyone who’s ever achieved great things has experienced the pain of being knocked down—so you’re in good company. Take a deep breath. Get up. Get going.

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Justin Sua

Justin Su'a in an expert in sport and performance psychology, the author of, "Parent Pep Talks” and the Head of Mental Conditioning at the IMG Academy, the world-leading provider of athletic and personal development training programs for youth, adult, collegiate and professional athletes, located in Bradenton, Florida. Follow Justin on Twitter: @justinsua

23 Comments

sopia brown
Oct 16, 2016 at 7:14 pm
awesome blog
Reply
Natali paul
Aug 20, 2014 at 9:16 am
i enjoyed your post .nice post
Reply
peter
Apr 30, 2014 at 8:39 pm
Step 3 is definitely a must
Reply
Sarah
Apr 1, 2014 at 7:06 pm
Step no. 3 is the important one for me. It’s especially important to keep in mind that, often, we need to put as many items on the “stop” list as on the “start.” Otherwise we try to do something new, but get swept up in the same negative or useless habits that have gotten us to this point in the first place.
Reply
Naomi@business start ups
Mar 31, 2014 at 12:21 pm
Hi Justin,
Great post. We all have to experience failure at some in life point, so why not make the most it. After all life goes on!
This quote by Ann Rand always keeps me motivated…
“The question isn’t who is going to let me; it’s who is going to stop me.”
My answer – nothing or no one
Naomi
Reply
- Justin
  Jun 15, 2015 at 2:45 pm
  Thank you for your comment Naomi 🙂
  Reply
Jeremy
Mar 30, 2014 at 3:21 pm
What I do when I’m on the verge of giving up? I recall J.K. Rowling’s quote.
“Rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life on.”
Reply
- justinsua22
  Apr 1, 2014 at 2:00 am
  Never heard that before–great quote!
  Reply
james simwanza
Mar 30, 2014 at 10:29 am
Rock bottom is a place to start building,true.We got to start to build from bottom to up.Success requires doing basic thing well,therefore,we have to start small to grow big,when we fail,its to start again this time with improvement in areas which needs adjustments.All in all,thats a agreat post…thanks
Reply
- justinsua22
  Apr 1, 2014 at 1:59 am
  I really appreciate your kind words James!
  Reply
Abe Stone
Mar 30, 2014 at 12:01 am
Just great!
The motivation aspects you mention here are great. I think sometimes the biggest challenge is getting back in the saddle.
The point about making a plan is something that is often neglected. Even if we do the other things, failing to take action and persists past the point of discouragement is what often keeps us back.
Write it down and recommit.
-Abe
Reply
- justinsua22
  Apr 1, 2014 at 1:57 am
  Great comment Abe! “Write it down and recommit” –love that.
  Reply
shabnam
Mar 29, 2014 at 8:11 am
Dis was indeed a wonderful writeup…not giving up ever is probably the best attitude!!…during hard times finding the d silverlining does get quite difficult….d only thing I tell myself is – isnt that wat u want,wer u wana b, y give up wen uv held up fr so long!!!
Articles like these always help
Thanks a ton! !!!
Reply
- justinsua22
  Mar 29, 2014 at 1:53 pm
  Glad you enjoyed it Shabnam; thanks for your comment!
  Reply
Tiffany Banks
Mar 28, 2014 at 8:44 pm
I’m loving this! Keep up the great inspirational motivation notes. I’m on this website everyday 🙂
Reply
- justinsua22
  Apr 1, 2014 at 1:56 am
  Thanks for reading the article Tiffany, and for taking some time to write a comment. Glad to help out where I can. Joel does a great job with this website to make sure he gives people great content. Keep coming back!
  Reply
justinsua
Mar 28, 2014 at 6:32 pm
So true, thanks for sharing Koko
Reply
Elyssa
Mar 28, 2014 at 6:32 pm
Love this post. It puts a practical set of parameters around failing and getting up again. I’ll be sending people to read this!
Reply
- Justin Su'a (@Justinsua)
  Mar 28, 2014 at 6:45 pm
  Glad you liked it Elyssa! Thanks for sharing 🙂
  Reply
Sue
Mar 28, 2014 at 4:21 pm
I have been giving myself a good talking to via journaling. Stating what I feel versus what I know. Motivational quotes help too!
Reply
- justinsua22
  Apr 1, 2014 at 1:54 am
  Good for you Sue! You are the most important person you speak to every day.
  Reply
Koko
Mar 28, 2014 at 4:00 pm
I use the method of motivation. Usually reading motivational quotes or watching motivational movies on Youtube. Everyone needs to find its own source of motivation when we hit the rock bottom.
Reply
- Justin Su'a (@Justinsua)
  Mar 28, 2014 at 6:44 pm
  Great comment Koko!
  Reply

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