If you’re anything like me, you’re in the game of life for the long haul and unfortunately, setbacks are a natural part of this journey. I say unfortunately because no matter how positive you are, setbacks can suck. They can suck the life out of you if you let them. Believe it or not, there are ways to remain self-motivated even after a setback.
Maybe you know how it feels to have a hugely ambitious goal and not quite meet it. Or, perhaps some well-intended friend or family member made a huge promise to you only to fail to follow through.
Whether you’ve been let down by others, yourself, or circumstances far outside of your control the sting can be a bit devastating.
Life has its ebbs and flows, people have their ups and downs. You may have a setback (or two or three or four or five), as a result, you may feel stuck and have no idea how your mindset could change.
It may feel daunting, but it’s important to remain optimistic.
If you’ve gotten this far as a self-motivated individual, you can still carry on. It’s not game over. Just acknowledge that failure is part of the process. Think of it as you’ve just started a new level, a new phase of life that you’ll have to conquer to keep going. You just need a strategy for recovery and inspiration to keep keeping on.
Here are 6 strategic ways to keep up the self-motivation after facing a setback:
- Give Yourself Time to Mourn: Initially, this might sound counterintuitive, but it’s not. When you’ve experienced a loss of any kind, the mind, body, and spirit will go through a natural grieving process. Give yourself time and space before you “jump back in there and crush it”. You are human. Take a little time off and practice self-love and compassion. Remember, the setback’s value is the lessons you learn about yourself, others, and life’s circumstances. Allow yourself to reflect so that you don’t miss out on the valuable lessons. This will strengthen you for the journey ahead and help you remain self-motivated.
- Rework Your Strategy: Assess your current strategies. Is there perhaps another way around a particular obstacle? When you redesign your approach, you set yourself up for greater progress. This will boost your creativity and help you to remain self-motivated at the same time.
- Spend Time with People Who Make You Feel Good: Not everyone makes you feel great. Whether it’s a personality conflict or someone who brings you down, if you feel like you’re leaving a social situation with more negative feelings than positive ones, it might be a good idea to check out of it altogether. Those people won’t lift you and help you get back on your feet. Now is the time to surround yourself with your feel-good friends. These are the people who speak life to your soul and help you to move on.
- Turn Up the Self-Care: When you face a setback, it’s natural to feel angry with yourself. However, instead of putting yourself down, focus on your accomplishments and beautiful qualities. Remember that beating yourself up will make it harder to regain your motivation later. Therefore, give yourself some time for self-care and reflect on all the great things you have achieved. This way, you’ll be able to get your inspiration levels back up in no time.
- Reward Yourself Once Every Day: While indulging in self-care, do at least one positive, uplifting thing daily. That doesn’t mean finishing a pint of ice cream or staying in bed all day. It means you should do something productive that makes you happy. Try taking a walk outside or cooking a healthy, delicious meal. Maybe you’d like to explore a new hobby or add a new healthy habit to your routine.
- Let Go of the Past: It’s called the past for a reason. You could spend hours thinking about what happened before your setback and how you could have changed it. Hindsight is 20/20, so the only thing that will happen here is it will make you feel worse. Be confident in your new decisions, and don’t look back.
Final Thoughts
You can reach your goals. Let me be the first one to tell you this. When you experience setbacks as you most definitely will, keep all of these little hacks in mind. Always remember that taking a teeny tiny step towards your ginormous goals even amid the storm of failure, loss, and self-doubt can help propel you over the finish line. So, take a little time to grieve, love yourself, surround yourself with your cheerleaders, let go of the past and get back in the game! Why, because the world needs those seeds of greatness that lie inside of you.
Be encouraged! You got this!
Be well + prosper,
Elaine xx