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To Persevere or Pull Out?

Kimberly Mendelsohn, CPT
Certified Personal Trainer
316-841-0466
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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If you’d like to find out how I did with the two major goals I set for myself in 2010, please go to my blog at: https://kimtri3.wordpress.com

Much is written and said about goal setting, but very little is said about what happens once the goal is set and you are on the path heading toward your goal. What happens when your initial strength and determination starts to wane?

Once we get rolling down the path we are faced with choices, obstacles and setbacks. At the start of this journey, when our strength and determination are at their highest, it is easier to make the right choice when faced with a difficult challenge. Even if an obstacle is huge, we are determined and make mincemeat out of the obstacle. It may be disappointing when we encounter a setback, yet we keep pushing through towards our goal.

It is much easier to overcome obstacles and setbacks in the beginning when we are still high on energy and ambition. But as time wears on, these challenges, obstacles and setbacks seem to become tougher to handle and seem to chip away at our strength and determination.   

So, as our progress is challenged the further along we travel toward success, what is the best way to handle these challenges? How do we decide to keep moving towards our goal, despite these obstacles? When is it the right time to modify our goal? And, at what point is it best to abandon our goal all-together, because, “It’s just not worth it.”? When can you modify your goal or give up on it because it’s the RIGHT thing to do and not just a matter of letting yourself off the hook? When do you persevere and when is it wise to realize that you were wrong in wanting to accomplish this goal in the first place?

Last year I wrote a series of three articles about setting and accomplishing goals. I want to draw on a few key principles from those articles to offer guidelines and questions to help you evaluate when it is time to persevere and when it is time to pull out.

If you set the goal, created a plan to achieve the goal, made sure the goal lined up with your core values, and were focused on the daily steps that were required to achieve the goal, while allowing the goal itself to become fuzzy and you still believe that achieving this goal will have a positive impact on your life...then, by ALL means, persevere. A modification may be necessary, however. Sometimes we approach goals with a sprint-like-mentality when what we need is a marathon-like-mentality.

If you set the goal, created a half-baked or not well-thought-out-plan to achieve the goal, didn’t consider your core values, or realize that reaching the goal just won’t make that much of a positive difference in your life….then, by ALL means, reconsider it. Go through the goal setting analysis process again. Does this goal measure up? Is it worth it? Is it violating one of your core values or is the pursuit of this goal negatively impacting your life? Depending on your answers to some of these questions, you may just need to pull out!

Life happens. Things happen. But, worthy goals require us to stay on and persevere in light of difficult choices, apparently overwhelming obstacles and setbacks that knock us down. Achieving the right goal is worth the price of admission and trust me, any goal worth achieving will cost you. But once achieved, you’ll realize the price was well worth it.

On the other hand, life happens. Things happen. And perhaps this particular goal is just not that worthy or it’s just not the right time in your life to try and achieve it. Could you have known this prior to setting the goal? Perhaps, but perhaps not.

As a new year approaches, it is very common for people to make new goals for their lives. Just be careful when setting your goals. Make sure they are truly goals and that they truly matter. Then, have the courage and take the time to stop, analyze, pray and review. Don’t beat yourself up. Be willing to adjust your plan, or modify your goal if it becomes necessary. This is called wisdom, and it takes wisdom to realize that sometimes, it can take MORE courage to modify a goal or even abandon a goal than to continue on in hopes of achieving it.  

When examining your progress, you may realize that it’s not looking very good, and you are encountering too many setbacks or enormous obstacles. Remember that, even if you are tired, burned out and scared, trust that if you’ve partnered with God in setting the goal and have done your part (even though not perfectly) to prepare to achieve the goal, that God will show up and do His part! If you need to modify your goal, then modify. When you know that the goal is worthy, then always, always persevere, realizing that you can make the necessary adjustments, based on what you learn in the process of achieving it.

On the other hand, if upon reviewing the goal, knowledge learned, your circumstances have changed since making the goal, reading the Bible and listening for God’s guidance, you feel that the goal needs to be abandoned, then be courageous and pull out.

All God’s best to you as you set goals and work toward achieving them in 2011.

I’d love to hear about your goals and your journey towards reaching them. Feel free to email me at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .


Helpful Questions to Ask Yourself About Persevering or Pulling Out:

Reviewing the goal itself

• Will achieving this goal still have a major positive impact on my life?
• Have I consistently set aside the proper time, planning and resources to achieve this goal? If not, why not?
• Am I still willing to push and fight for it? Am I just tired and need to rest and get recharged?
• Do I still care about this goal?
• Does this goal have “roots” or “legs” to it? Or was it just a goal that sounded kind of fun and cool at the time?

Reviewing the circumstances that are causing you to consider modifying or abandoning your goal

• Will the process of achieving this goal strengthen one or more of my core values?
• Does abandoning this goal violate one of my core values?
• Is there a modification to the goal that would make more sense in light of what I now know about the process of achieving this goal or in light of current circumstances that I didn’t understand when I set the goal?
• Am I just getting tired of making choices that line up with who I want to be and it’d just be easier to continue making the choices I am used to making?
• Are the choices more difficult, obstacles larger and setbacks really as big as they appear?
• Am I doing this alone? Am I trusting God in regard to this goal?  Are there resources I can tap into that will strengthen me?

Other questions

• What is the cost to me if I don’t achieve this goal? What is the cost to me if I do? 
• Is this a timing issue? Have circumstances that are out of my control, changed and impacted the wisdom of continuing with this goal at this time? Could I just postpone this goal or slow down and extend the time frame in which to achieve it?