🤠 How To Win a Single Person Race

Day 35:   It's Not Me, It's You   

by Edward Smith

09 Aug 2020

Sometimes Listening To Yourself Is Dangerous

When you set out to do something long term, you're taking the hard road, and taking the hard road is risky.  You'll run into obstacles along the way.   

Some obstacles are obvious, so you can avoid them with ease.  Others are more sneaky and you might not even know you are looking at them.   You might not see your expected results.  Your support group might not see what you're trying to do and question you.   That can be tough.

Your goal might be personal.   You might find yourself alone.      

If that happens to you, don't quit.  Don't ever give up.  Long term goals take time.   

Long Term Goals Get Tired Easily

When I first set up this sixty six day challenge, I started off excited, but later on I started to get tired.  Everything I was doing at the beginning was awesome, and full of impact.    I didn't know how the thing would go, but it didn't matter.   I had a lot on my mind, and a ton to say.   

As the thing continued, my psychology took a hit.   For thirty three days straight I exploded onto the scene, wrote meaningful articles, and enjoyed my moment.   On day thirty four I ran into a roadblock and began to question myself.    

Why was I doing this?    I wasn't getting paid.   There was no paycheck in it for me.   It didn't really look like people were paying attention to me or the stuff I was writing.   

It was kind of crazy.  Essentially I took a chance, set up a blog, wrote articles in the blog, and then trafficked the blog through social media.   I set up a Facebook account so I could update my friends with progress, and then I had a Pinterest account in play, which I used to advertise myself to strangers.   

It was good at the beginning.   I received some initial attention and then things petered out. 

How to Resuscitate a Good Plan

Long term goals differ from their short term cousins.   Long term goals tend to out live your initial excitement.    You'll be supercharged to move forward, but your goal won't let you know if that is the right thing to do or not.   Long term goals tend to leave you out on your own for a while.   

You might do something and the something might now show a visible result.   With my blog I would write articles, and then I would review my analytics.   I'd see a couple of people check in.  It wasn't stellar.   I would begin to wonder if those people were not really people.  I began to wonder if it was just me editing my own blog posts.   Faith can be important at those moments, because feedback is not always forthcoming.    

With long term goals, you might need to just leave it alone and let it sit out there.   That's what I decided to do with my blog posts.   By writing in my blog, I created something that could be circulated around and consumed by others.   It wasn't going anywhere, so I had time on my side to let things happen at their own pace.   Set it and forget it.     

My blog might not get noticed for years.   What does it matter?    If I hadn't done it, then there would be no chance.  Put yourself out there and try.   

Conclusion

In my blog, it became easy to question myself.  I could have quit.  My goal was long term, so I couldn't see where things were going.   Long term goals require faith.    You have to believe in yourself and hang on for the ride.   

I continued forward.    

When you can see that your goal matters, it means your goal is good.   It means you're not wasting your time.    Learn from your trials.   Adjust the plan if you have to.  You have time.    

 

With long term goals.   You're not resigned to fate   You get to navigate!