5 Ways to Get Back on Track When You Have Lost Your Way
Having a low moment in life is temporary, but sometimes you may need 5 ways to get back on track when you have lost your way. There is not a human on the planet who does not have low moments in their life when they feel completely stuck and do not know what to do. We all lose our way from time to time, and it is up to us to find our way back. Your reality is not what has happened, but how you frame what has happened because
Change your thoughts and you will change your life. It is important to understand, you will have low moments, but you will never stay there if you find the reason why you do what you do. Here are 5 ways to get back on track when you have lost your way.
Write Down your Reason Why
When you know your reason why, it acts as a natural motivator. Ask yourself: “Why must you do what you do”? Taking a look at your actions, thoughts, and your patterns to better understand yourself can help you find the motivation you need to keep going. Turn negative reasons why into brighter reasons with more of a purpose in order to better help yourself in some way. Ponder the thought: “Why must you succeed, work on yourself, get healthy and set a positive example? Asking yourself who and what you are doing the things in your life for opens your eyes to your own mind’s perception.
Knowledge and experience are strictly external; however, motivation is different in a sense because it is a mix of both external and internal factors. Ideas and inspiration can come from the outside, but it is all about what is really going to get the fire going internally in order to make you take action. Looking at who motivated you in the past and pushed you towards your goals can help conjure up the lost motivation they provided. You can look to their memories or go to them for more inspiration and motivation.
Motivation is a combination of values, beliefs, and goals and is important to our success. When we feel we are in control of our values, goals, and beliefs, we tend to feel highly motivated to take action and move forward; when we feel one of these is out of our control, it can be easy to be discouraged. It is important to hone in on what motivates you the most when you feel like sitting on the bench instead of getting up and going after your dreams.
Looking at what motivates you demonstrates the specifics of the motivating act itself. The more we recognize the factors motivating us, the better we may be able to seek out similar factors in order to keep us going now. When and why were you motivated helps the individual pinpoint a time where you were impressionable. Open-mindedness can change with each phase of our lives, so understanding why you were motivated before helps you realize what is needed for something to stand out to you.
Most importantly it is important for you to understand the “how” question of your own motivation. How do you motivate others and how are you motivated yourself? What steps do you take to help others achieve their goals? Inspiration is great, but think about the steps you take to make sure they take action. Understanding accountability through the journey and having someone help keep you accountable yourself is important because if you do not take accountability for your progress and own motivations, you will not move forward towards any of your goals.
Motivation is important when it comes to goal setting and achieving those goals. However, it is important to remember motivation goes further than your productivity because it is a feeling that comes and goes. You will not be motivated all the time and it is ok, but staying stagnant and constantly unmotivated is not. Motivation is innate within us and when we see clearly without visions and values, it tends to appear. Whatever you are feeling, you got this.
Three Tips to Stay on Top of your Goals:
- Understand why you set the goal in the first place
- Create a plan of action
- This will help you stay on track toward your goals no matter how you feel
- Take action following your plan.
- Check off the steps as you go, and if the plan is not working, you are allowed to revise the plan, not the goal
Feed Your Mind with Positivity and Power
Your mind is a muscle you have to work everyday. Much like your muscles, how you work it will determine its and yourself’s growth. Consume as much positive, transformative, and powerful self-development materials as possible any way you can because what you continuously tell your brain will eventually become permanent. Your brain will eventually believe everything you say to it and take it as the truth, so instead of beating yourself down, why don’t you feed yourself positive affirmations to help motivate and lift yourself up?
You can write on sticky notes and put them around your mirror, read books, listen to audio, videos, have mentors and listen to podcasts in order to find the positive affirmations you need in order to positively pursue self-development. If you feed your brain powerful content every day, and you really take it in, it is very unlikely you will lose your way because your goals and confidence within yourself cannot be measured. Typically, you lose your way by getting caught up in the negativity of the world: negative news, petty conflicts, comparisons to others. Finding your way can come from doing what most people do not dedicate themselves to: self-development.
Know Where you Want to Go
Goals are important because they tell us where we would like to go and help keep us on track. Those who set specific and clear goals are more likely to live successful and fulfilled lives than those who do not. If you are after money, write down how much money instead of just saying I want money. Being specific allows us to envision our own wants and aspirations. Being able to see what we want and how to get there, provides stable motivation within our lives.
Putting down a clear WHEN to your goal is important as well. When would you like to complete the task? From there you have a clear goal, when you would like to have it complete, and you can go ahead and define how you will reach your goal. Try to take your big goal and set little goals along the way, so the ultimate goal does not become overwhelming to think about. By getting clear about all the aspects of where, how, and when you are going to get to where you want to go, you now have a clear purpose to work towards. It is hard to get off track when you have something important to work towards. It can happen, but the chances are slim. The key to goal setting is to make it meaningful to you.
Create Boundaries
Not everyone is going to understand and be acceptable or your boundaries because they do not understand the situation you are personally dealing with and it is ok as long as you do not take it personally. It is important to surround yourself with positive influences in your life who support and help motivate you. Healthy relationships with your friends, family, and yourself can provide the framework for helping you find your feet again once you feel you have lost your way. Anyone who selfishly provides negativity to you when you are trying to work on yourself does not deserve your undivided attention.
Create boundaries around all your distractions. Anything getting in your way of what matters and engages you should not be allowed into your life. It is important to not only feed yourself powerful self-developmental affirmation, but it is equally as important to surround yourself with those who prove the same energy as well. You can feed yourself positivity all day, but if you allow your brain to listen to those who seek to tear you down, it will all be for nothing. In fact, the mental battle between yourself and the thoughts and feelings being provided by others can feel daughnty when you are working on you but others are against you. This is why it is important to carefully choose who can and cannot be in your life and the impact you allow them to have on your wellbeing. Simplify your life. When you are overwhelmed, stressed, or tired, the solution is almost always less.
Take Action and Move
When you feel as though you are at your lowest, it can become easy to say “why me” and make excuses. The truth is, you are not going to get out of the slump you are in unless you decide to take action and work for what you want and the goals you set for yourself. The classic quote by Henry Ford “whether you think you can or you can’t….you are right” is important at this moment. You can either rise to the occasion and make the conscious decision to work on yourself every day focusing on what can be, or you can decide to sit and think about what was and not progress.
In order for you to move on and be happy and have motivational support from others, you have to want to put in the work and believe in yourself. Everyone can be for you, but if you are not for you, it is not going to make a bit of difference and eventually the support system will fade because they gave up on you. The hard truth is they gave up because you gave us first, so find your motivation, write down your goals, and work on your own self-development in order to get on track and move forward. You have the time, the skills, the knowledge, support, and the discipline to get it done. Believe in yourself, take action, and move. No one else can do it for you no matter how much they support you.
Everything worth anything in life will be an uphill battle and provide a challenge. Everything worthwhile is never going to be handed to you or simple. Instead you are going to have to work and not give up in order to go after what you want out of life. It is always going to be difficult, but the worst part of the battle is mental. Feed yourself the motivation, and you will have the strength to keep going even in at your lowest. It is true when they say life is short, so live for today and do not wait to go after what you want. You may feel weak in the beginning, but growth happens during the process. Everyone starts somewhere, so why not start now? You are stronger than you believe to move forward and fight your way out of the low you feel. Pain, hurt, and lows are only temporary, so keep moving.
You do not have to stay lost. Remind yourself “this too shall pass” and keep going. Life is a rollercoaster with ups, downs, and loopty loops. Not every day will be good, but not every day will be bad, so you have to keep moving if you want to make progress. It is your dreams and goals, so if you want them to come true, you are going to have to get up and make it happen. Write out a list of your goals, the steps you are going to take, and ask yourself why? Find and be your own motivation. Keep going and never give up and you will find your way again.
