Today is day 29 of my 60 day pull-up goal challenge. In some ways, working toward this goal has gotten… normal. And while I still struggle daily with giving 100% to eating healthy and exercising, I have gotten better and better with both. Now I find myself wanting to learn more about the psychology behind quitting behavior.
I have always found quitting to be the answer when things get tough. Change is so hard! And if you quit half-way through, then you don’t have to deal with the possible feelings of failure later on. I found an interesting article that briefly goes over 10 reasons we fail to achieve our goals. Here’s the link to the full article: 10 Reasons we Fail to Achieve Goals.
But, the reason that resonates the most with me is #1, “excuses.” I definitely give myself WAY too many excuses for not reaching goals. What’s worse, my family and friends feel bad for me and also will give me excuses. “I keep eating too much sugar” I’ll say, and a friend will respond with “It’s really hard to stay away from, it’s everywhere all the time in our society.” I know they mean well, but it doesn’t help me to find yet another excuse. (Although I realize I can’t expect them to say “Well deal with it. Figure it out.” Ha, that would be shocking!)
The other reason from the article that I definitely struggle with is #2, “magnifying our fears more than our abilities.” The fear of failure for me, FAR out-weighs my belief in my own abilities. It’s like an adult on one side of the teeter-totter, and a baby on the other. It’s something I need to reflect more on.
Interesting article, worth a read for the recovering quitters out there!
When I Quit Quitting 