How To Get Up When You Fall Down

It’s February. What goals have you fallen off track on or have lowered to be “more attainable”? As I talked about in Breaking Through, when setting your SMART Goals, you need to know yourself well enough that you can tailor the plan befitting to you. Anticipate your struggles, failures and know how and when you work best. Be proactive and have a plan to pick yourself up and get back on track. Even if it does hit you unexpectedly because you thought this was going to be smooth sailing for you, don’t be discouraged.

Like many people, I went into 2024 full of hope & confidence equipped with self awareness and a plan. My number one goal this year is to write my first book and get it published. I created an outline, started my website, joined writers and other groups and began blogging. I set myself a daily schedule, did my research and woke up each morning determined with a positive mindset. My smaller goals included cliche items like getting into shape, starting a book club and work/life balance. Prioritizing my mental and spiritual health has been at the top of my list as well.

Where am I now?
As expected, laced with hurdles and whispers of doubt & negativity. It seems anytime we’re trying to better ourselves, there’s this bad presence trying to put anything and everything in our way to get us to fail or give up. I’ve been rolling out several new items at work requiring additional time and more meetings, my youngest daughter has been out of sorts to put it lightly that we literally are fighting to keep her and enforce she be given the right treatments which has me an emotional wreck, I have a Senior that needs Senior items done and more time with me as this may be the last time she lives under my roof, an active 10yr old, my fiancé and I are trying to plan our eloped wedding/honeymoon, house shopping, and I’m freelancing on the side.

I started to get a little discouraged first while doing my R&D on writing my book. I realized the extra steps needed to know if my book is worth writing for a relevant publisher to pick up. Apparently, I shouldn’t just write a book and share my blogs from my website to gain a following. I should create a course on the chapters of my book to see if people are even interested and gaining value before putting in the time and effort to write it. The emotional drain from my daughter’s situation and not having enough time has added to the discouragement.

What have I failed at?

• My original goal, was to write 3 blogs per week. Now, I’ve been doing good to get 1 post per week, plummeting my stats
• I was hoping to have my course completed by now to start promoting it. I only have bullet points down
• I would have loved to have guest posts on a few sites by now but I haven’t

How am I fixing it?

• • Due to my work schedule being demanding through the week, I’m now pre-writing my blog posts on the weekend and setting them to go out throughout the week. At least 3 posts per week in different categories
  • I now block days to work on specific task
    • Weekends – blog post
    • Tuesdays – Social Media
    • Wednesday mornings – Working on Course
    • Friday – working on Memoir Daily
      • Waking up at 6:30 and getting my devotion/prayer in
      • Going to bed by 11PM so I can wake up early with the proper amount of sleep
      • Evenings 10-11
        Apply for Freelancing/Speaking gigs and work on Media

Items we fail at to stay on track

• Prioritize – we do not prioritize the tasks required to accomplish our goals. If we do not put it as a top priority, we will do everything before completing the task to get us to the next level
• Time Management – we say we don’t have enough time in a day but how efficiently are we using the time we have? How many times a day do we scroll social media, watch tv or any other time sucker that isn’t getting us closer to our goal?
• R&D – Oftentimes we formulate a goal and create a plan without actually knowing anything about our goal & the steps to success. It’s important to do your research before committing to a plan/goal

Take a look at your goal. Have you prioritized it above most other items in your day? If not, why? Is it not really a passion or a must in your life? If this is the case, maybe you need time finding your authentic self and the passion God created inside you. You will never successfully accomplish something that you’re not passionate about or that isn’t for you.

How can you manage your time better? Take out the items in your day that aren’t relational or moving you forward. Be intentional. Schedule out the day according to what you need to accomplish and what you know about yourself. When setting your daily schedule, leave time for distractions, eating, etc. Don’t set yourself up for failure by not honoring your needs and what you know about your habits.

It’s time to begin again because the most important thing is that you don’t ever quit. It’s okay if you need to reset. This time I want you to add three things. It may be the difference between succeeding or not :

1. Inputting Positivity: it’s easy to get discouraged and down. Instead of allowing yourself to do this, stay positive! You’ll never accomplish anything and especially not well with negativity. When you come across a hurdle or negative voice in your ear, shake it off and turn it into solution thinking and positive thoughts
   Support: When we surround ourselves with supportive people, it helps us stay positive and on track. It may be hard for some to find this support system but it’s out there. Start joining groups and positioning yourself at places/events to find like-minded people who are either on the journey now or have been there at some point and succeeded.
   Accountability: This person pushes you even when you don’t want to hear or even recognize the need for it.

So, get up and dust yourself off, make the changes in your plan you need to and keep going. You may have to do this several times before finding success and that’s okay. The last 3 points may be the most important of all. Don’t dismiss it, do the work to stay positive, get support and have an accountability partner. 2024 will be different for you!