Don't Give Up...

First Newsletter of the New Year, 2022! Can you believe it? At the turn of every new year it becomes quite apparent that time stops for no one. That means whether or not you were ready for 2022, it was ready for you. A new year means a chance for a fresh start. For some this can seem refreshing, especially if you didn't have a great 2021. A new year also means resetting the scoreboard for many. So whatever you accomplished in 2021, while great, goals get reset in 2022. So you need to climb "Goal Mountain" again.

Groundhog's Day

The constant cycle of reseting the new year, year after year, over time can become relentless and exhaustive for many. I'm human too, so I understand life's struggles. Struggles are part of life and the human condition. So in the spirit of this edition of the newsletter, we're going to talk about a very serious topic.

Giving up

Ask yourself this:

"Are you getting close to giving up on your dreams and goals?"

If so, this newsletter edition is for you and even if not, you should definitely read the entire edition so you can figure out whenever you do hit a tough spot in your life, how you can keep going, keep striving, and keep reaching your goals.

Why Do You Feel Like Giving Up?

The reason you likely feel like giving up is because you've hit a wall that you feel as though you can't get through it. When I say you've hit a wall, it's anything that stands in your way of making progress. When you hit a wall, it can be very discouraging. You try time and time again, to figure out how can you make progress? But no matter what, you still can't manage to get ahead. You start to get tired. You start to get scared and feelings of self doubt start to increase. This follows feelings of low self-esteem. Once your self-esteem goes, that's when you start to question...

"Am I cut out for this?"

The other thing that compounds this effect for why you feel like giving up is the people you're hanging around. Are you hanging around people that are also holding you back? When they see you struggling, rather than providing you encouragement, they say things like...

"See, I told you so... This is impossible... It's not even worth all the headache"

This negative talk can definitely cause you to second guess your abilities because now you have an external source validating your negative self-talk which further messes with your mind.

The other thing we need to double click on is timeline. When you set a goal you've either set a timeline or feel you should be able to achieve something within a certain time despite writing it down. When you hit a wall between you and your goal and you're not able to overcome that hurdle, the timeline you set for yourself starts to drag out.

The longer that timeline starts to drag out, the more you doubt yourself. You start with the...

"I should have already completed this by now!"

And that little voice in your head starts feeding you the idea that just quitting and giving up may be the best option. But it's lies, ALL lies.

A Personal Story You Can Learn From

I began building my social media presence in fall of 2020. I made a commitment that I was going to work on growing and scaling personally and professionally. The reason I wanted to do this was because I wanted to motivate, encourage and inspire as many people as I could. Developing personal development content and leveraging technology to communicate it at scale.

Social media represented an amazing way to do that. However, building and growing on social media is a daunting task. It is definitely a marathon, not a sprint. You're not going to get quick results and that is a very humbling, sobering reality despite what any LinkedIn Coach or LinkedIn Celebrity will tell you for $$$.

I've created content that initially didn't get much engagement and it can be quite discouraging. But here's a secret, with any daunting task you have to switch from short-term to long-term thinking. You have to delay the desire for instant gratification for a greater gain over the long-term. So many people want to experience a short-term win by going viral, getting rich quick, or 10 minute abs, and so on...

BUT, they never will because these are long-term commitments causing most to give up too quickly when the fruit of their labor is not realized quickly. People need that positive feedback very quickly. Well, many things in life don't work like that. Social media is one of them.

So I too wrestle with similar challenges of scaling the reach of ThoughtfulTechy. I have to accept not getting results as fast as I would like and still be able to power through and know that if I'm doing everything I need to do, the results will come.

What About You?

I want you to think about your own life. I want you to think about what you're trying to achieve now. What has gotten you to the point where you're discouraged and ready to throw in the towel and call it quits?

I'm going to give you a second right now to think about what that is. Focus on that.

2 Reasons You Should Not Give Up

Now that you've completed that exercise, I'm going to give you two reasons why you shouldn't give up:

1. You're already very familiar with what it feels like to give up. I'm sure we've all quit things before, and it's definitely not our proudest moment.
2. You deserve all the reward and all the benefit that comes with accomplishing your goals and dreams.

Things You Can Do to Overcome The Urge to Give Up

First thing I want to tell you about is to look at your goal and dreams. Break them down into smaller bite size chunks. When you have a huge dream or huge goal, it's very easy for you to take a look at that and just become overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude and complexity of achieving that goal or dream.

"Instead, you break that down into smaller chunks which is much more attainable. Think about Who you need to be on a daily basis and the tasks and behaviors you need to exhibit on a daily basis. Further break that big goal or dream down into small bite size chunks and attack it piece by piece. When you attack something piece by piece, one step at a time"

One step at a time and you will eventually reach your destination. This will help you greatly with the feelings of being overwhelmed, because now rather than trying to achieve your goal as a whole, you've broken this down into separate tasks. You are more likely to achieve your goals and you'll have the encouragement that you're making progress on these smaller tasks.

This will carry you in the direction of meeting your overall dreams and goals.

Second thing that compliments breaking a big goal or dream down into smaller bite size chunks is to take one day at a time. Remember, all we have is this moment. Tomorrow is not promised, yesterday is a memory. We only have right now. Stop worrying about next week, next month, or next year.

Instead, focus on what you need to do today. The steps you need to take today, what you need to accomplish right now, in this moment to get you closer to your goal.

Third thing you need to do to combat the feelings of giving up is to absolutely stay away from naysayers. Naysayers are the people that say it can't be done.

"It's impossible. It's never been done before. You're crazy. Why do you think you can do that? This is complicated!"

Stay away from the naysayers. The reason the naysayers are naysayers is either because they can't do it or they don't want to see you do it. Nothing sabotages your goals and dreams faster than hanging around someone constantly planted seeds of doubt in your mind.

This Is Your Year

I want you to truly believe that you can accomplish this, whatever your goal or dream is. I want you to believe that you can do this because if you can't even believe it, you've already failed on start. You have to believe. I don't care how crazy it is. I don't care if anybody hasn't done it before. Think about how many things have been achieved in this world.

How many dreams have come true, simply because somebody was crazy enough to believe they could do it. They applied the effort to get it done and they have the determination, resilience, and persistence to do it.

You CAN Do This Too

It may not always seem like it. I didn't say it's going to be easy. I didn't say you're going to be able to navigate without challenges, but realize life is overwhelmingly more beautiful than it is ugly. Your goals that you set for yourself are worth the effort to achieve them. Yes, you might hit some hurdles.You might get discouraged, but you're not alone.

"Everyone hits roadblocks"

I hit hurdles. I get discouraged, but if you have the determination, persistence and mindset to keep going, you're going to win.

"You only lose when you quit. You can't lose, if you don't quit"

Join the ThoughtfulTechy Discord Community

Speaking of community, if you haven't already you have to join my ThoughtfulTechy Discord Community. I have carved our own space focused on personal development and tech. A safe place, for us to collaborate, learn, and grow as people?TOGETHER.

If you know how Discord works go ahead and join via my invite link here:

ThoughtfulTechy Discord Invite

If you are not familiar with Discord, review this first:

What is Discord?

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-Keep pushing forward,

Greg