As a life coach, motivational speaker, and blogger, I can’t remember how many times I have advised people to persist until they reach their goals. But is that always good advice? Ten years into a life coaching, I realized sometimes it’s wiser to just quit. Excessive focus on a goal with the mindset that quitting is bad can backfire. Goal disengagement, as psychologists call it, can be beneficial to our personal and professional lives. Just as with everything, priorities change. If a goal no longer inspires you, then this could be a valid reason to quit.
Is It Ever Ok to Give Up on a Dream?
Very true, and sometimes it’s very difficult to know to move on, especially when your identity and ego is wrapped up in your dream (or the pursuit).
You are right! We must always detach ourselves from our dreams.
And our occupation…
yes~that is not easy to do 🙁
Nice article
Thank you 🙏
Nice post. We need to be able to give up on a goal or dream – without feeling guilty about it. That’s the hard part. To be able to say ‘I’m going in a new direction’ or ‘this dream no longer fits with my life plan’ and not feel like we’ve failed. Now we just need to figure out the how.
You are absolutely right! Feeling guilty is what makes many people stick to dreams and goals that no longer make sense. Thank you for sharing your thoughts.
When the outcome of pursuing our dreams does not occur, we are disappointed to devastated (and yes, guilty, self-judgmental or blaming) depending on how vital this dream was to us. If we can begin to heal and learn from the experience we have an opportunity to redirect our goals and may even find much greater fulfillment shifting our aspirations onto a new path. It is often a painful process that takes support and belief in ourselves that is not always easy to find. I have always had to rediscover that I am worth the work it takes to keep moving forward.
You are absolutely correct. We are goal-oriented beings which makes it doubly hard to accept switching a goal without being judgmental and doubtful of ourselves.
I guess technically it’s not giving up. It just ceases to be a goal of ours, right?
You are right Janice. We can definitely agree it’s not technically giving up, but just a change of direction.
Thank you for this wonderful post. A lot of us are a bit to hard on ourselves and feel like quitters when we are really just experiencing a new priority sometimes as time moves on.
XOXO,
Kiddo Elliott
https://sweetdreamsguide.com/
You are right. Thank you for stopping by and commenting:)
People get caught in the ego part of it. Stopping equates to failing but it actually doesn’t. It equates to wisdom if realisation is a major part of the decision and thought goes into what happens next.
Exactly! Beside we are bombarded with messages telling us not to give up. I think we should always take advice and apply it to our unique circumstances.
Wow this is naked truth, coz one really needs to understand his dreams by himself and focused on them
You are right brother!
Meraviglioso micio!
Un saluto,silvia
Saluto 🙂
Excellent advice. Thank you so much for visiting my blog and for the follow.
My pleasure Clare. Thank you for stopping by.
It can be very liberating to quit when you finally accept that there’s no possibility of succeeding. It’s a learning experience that sets you up choose the next project with more care and consideration. Very important to know when it’s time to quit!
Exactly! It gives us wisdom to choose more wisely the next time around.