I Almost Quit Today. 10 Things That Keep Anyone From Quitting

Restored from the Empower Network archive (2011–2017), lightly edited to meet our current advertising standards. Views are the original author’s.

I almost quit today. 

 Ten Things That Kept Me From Quitting

We all go through hard times.  We all have that time when we feel so overwhelmed that we wonder if our goal will ever be achieved.  And you just have to sit back for a second, look at what your becoming, where your heading, and you have to think.  Am I happy with what I am becoming?  Today I was annoyed, angry, upset, and overall frustrated with where I am.

When the going gets tough the tough gets going.  Right now as I type this, I am sitting in front of my desk, and I read that quote.  My wall is filled with a bunch of reasons of why I’m doing this.  Why I started. Why I’m striving to do what I’m doing right now.  There are plenty of reasons that we all feel like we want to quit. So here are ten reasons that can help keep you from quitting.  Ten things to help you keep striving on just like they helped me.

1. Remember the reason(s) you started in the first place.  What was the “spark” that caused you to begin the journey?  Revisiting that may help rekindle the flame that helps you go on.
2. Ask yourself, “What would I rather be doing?”  If you ask yourself this, and nothing comes to mind that will help you achieve your challenge and goal, you need to keep striving. If nothing compelling comes to mind, then determine the next step you need to take to move you closer to your goal.
3. List 10 reasons why you CAN keep going.  What strengths and resources do you possess that will help you achieve your desired outcome?  Just the very act of doing this shifts your focus from the problem to the solution.
4. Give yourself permission to quit.  Sounds crazy, but it works.  When you set up an internal law that says, “I can’t quit.” Or “I shouldn’t quit”, it makes the desire to quit even stronger. This is one to be careful of though because it can also work in reverse at times.  Keeping yourself accountable to someone else is also a great way to overcome this and stay on track.
5. Give yourself a need to continue.  Rather than focus on why you feel you need to quit, focus on why you need to continue.  What’s the payoff, the reward waiting for you if you persevere? My personal need to continue is because it’s my personal goal to retire my parents, move out of their house and be able to live on my own.
6. Stop focusing on the struggle and start focusing on the solution.  Whatever you focus on expands.  If your focus is on the struggle you are experiencing, that becomes the biggest (and maybe even the ONLY) thing on your “horizon” It blocks out many, if not all, of the creative opportunities and solutions that may be trying to present themselves to you.
7. Take a hard look at your methodology.  Tired of getting poor or less than optimum results from your efforts?  Then why keep doing things the same way an expecting something different to happen?  That’s the classic definition of insanity!  Ask yourself, “What’s the most radical or unorthodox action I could take right now?”  Try it.
8. Make a contract with yourself.  Write out what you intend to accomplish and how you intend to accomplish it and then give yourself, say, six months to achieve your goal.  Sign and date it and keep it where you can see it.  You might even impose some kind of “penalty” for breaking the contract – no chocolate for a month, something like that, I don’t know.  I’ve done this one with multiple things.  From a contract for my 100 day blogging challenge, to choosing to be successful.  I have contracts that I am bonded to.
9. Get real.  Were you enticed by the “illusion” that success is easy?  Maybe you were enamored by the “fluff” that if you just want something badly enough, it will find its way to your doorstep.  Success is WORK.  Pure and simple.  It is the result of a certain mindset as well as a set of deliberate actions.  If you want to quit something, then quit fooling yourself by thinking it’s going to be a “piece of cake”.
10. Take a Step Back.  Sometimes looking at something too hard or long obscures the solutions.  It’s the “can’t see the forest for the trees” phenomenon.  By simply walking away or taking a break from the struggle to solve, you often free your mind to see new options and opportunities. When Someone’s studying a piece of art so close, you miss the true beauty of it, you have to step back to see the whole picture and it can make the entire thing more clear and all the more beautiful.

These are ten steps that I wrote down today.  These ten things kept me from quitting today.  They kept me striving and moving forward.  If they helped you like they helped me, then share the message!  Give this to someone that might be close to quitting because it might make all the difference in the world to them.  So hit those little share buttons to Facebook, twitter, Google+, etc.  I’ll see you on the beaches of the world!

To Your Success!

~ZBH