Be Proud Of Yourself Instead Of Feeling Guilty
I've been pondering and had a conversation about how some of us feel guilty if we don't reach the goal(s) we set up for ourselves. You know, that's the problem with goals. Goals are great to keep us going for something we want to achieve. But what if life steps in?
What if you or some of your loved ones gets ill and you can't keep up the speed you've set up in order to achieve your goal? Or something happens and keeps your mind occupied so that you can't focus on writing at all?
Let's look at me. When I started my new website on 1.1.2020, I had a clear goal. Minimum 30 posts till the end of March, 60 before summer and 100 before the end of the year.
Now where am I?
It's May 17 and I have only 36 posts out on my website. I did reach the first goal and had 30 before end of March but then I just couldn't keep up the speed. I felt so tired, drained and I lost the drive and motivation I had in the beginning of the year.
And the more I felt guilty about not being writing, the worse it was. As if someone or something was preventing me to get to writing. I was so annoyed. Feeling guilty. Worried if I ever get to writing again.
It's called resistance, I guess.
You just have to let it go.
I looked at the situation from a different perspective. On 1.1.2020 I had nothing on my website. Today, I have 36 posts and no one knows anyway whether it will be the 40th, 50th or 80th that gets to number 1 page in Google eventually.
You know how picky Mr. Google is. You might be writing like crazy and he still doesn't give you credit. It's like a game. Who's gonna win? You will, but no one knows when.
It might be one year, two years...who knows? But in the meantime, you can enjoy the process.
What helped me eventually to overcome this situation, which was something like disappointment with myself and falling out of love with my website (a post written about it by Twack, definitely worth reading) was that I just accepted the results and stopped blaming myself.
There is no strict rule saying we should write one, two or three articles a week. It's only up to us, our abilities and circumstances.
Accept that you are you, and never compare yourself with others who have written more or have better results. If you are slow, look at those who say it took them 2 years, 2.5 years to see results...well, why not? Life is not a race.
You are still better off than those who are doing nothing.
Even if you are behind your schedule, you still should be proud of yourself.
For trying and not giving up.
For wanting to do something good. To leave a legacy. Or whatever your reason for this venture is.
Always be proud of yourself. You are unique. There's no one else like you in this world.
Love
Lenka
Recent Comments
105
Hi Lenka
This is such a timely post for me. I have missed a number of goals recently and experienced a few setbacks that have made me question what I am doing.
Doubts have crept in and I have wondered if it’s worth all the hard work. But you are right that we must accept that setbacks are inevitable and we just need to dust ourselves down and resolve to try harder.
Best wishes
Dave
Pretty much everybody feels exactly like that at times. But you make good points that everyone should hear and remember too - and that includes that fact they will indeed be better off than those others who have done nothing - and they will be better off themselves for having done at least SOMETHING.
I don't particularly like the word "Secret" because it is way overused and mostly to describe common stuff that is nowhere near being any kind of real secret to begin with.
But.... if there were such a thing as a SECRET to goal setting it would be this;
The real power in goal setting is simply to keep moving forward and making consistent progress over time.
That's it. And when you do that - all those little gains eventually add up to something significant - even something amazing sometimes.
Thanks for your inspiring post!
Best regards,
L.D. Sewell
Nice. I almost quit at one year and at that time had 100 posts. Now it's been 4 and a half years and my website has 450 posts on it. I don't look at it as a race and certainly don't let my progress or lack of it interfere with living the best I can and going out and doing things like hiking and fishing. Slow and steady is the best way to go, as there is no final destination here. Nice post.
Encouraging post, Lenka. I've fallen behind on some goals as well. I try to start each day, week or month fresh, with a clean slate, even if I didn't reach the previous goals, and not beat myself up over it.
Thanks for the encouraging post 👍
Isaiah 😊
We are all so similar, Isaiah, aren't we? That's why I like sharing here so much.
Thank you for your comment.
Lenka
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Hi Lenka, Well I am still playing catch up at the moment, but using a bit of down time from another project I am involved with to dork once more on my WA project.
What the break has done has given me time to reflect on what i should be focusing on with my website. And it has worked to a major degree, in that I would have been in the depths of depression in the past, but I now have a path I am looking to tread in focusing on the end of life / full life cycle of product A lot of folks have written about recycling but not so much about the sustainability of products beyond their actual "useful life".
Thanks for the inspiring post.