Setbacks Suck


The inspiration is the last few weeks.

Setbacks are going to happen. Unfortunately, there is only so much you can do. They can come in all kinds of forms. Additional responsibilities, health problems, family problems, vehicle problems, pet problems, etc. The list is ENDLESS! Regardless of which one you are facing; the clock keeps ticking. You must keep going and go on to the next set of challenges.

The

Here are four of my strategies:

- Go back to the list of tasks

A great starting point is going back and reviewing everything you were working on before you had a setback. It gives you an idea of where you were at before your focus and attention was taken away by your setback.

- Start working on something

If you’re not sure where to start, pick up the nearest thing and start working on it. At times you need to start before you really figure out what you must be working on.

- Give up on the project

Depending on what the setback was there’s a chance that the project you were working really doesn’t mean anything to you. You might be better off abandoning that project. I’ve done it countless times. There are times where the timing is off, and you need to focus on other areas of your life for now.

- Assess where I’m at and find an easy win

Take a look at and seeing if there is something easy to accomplish. That easy accomplishment can spark some excitement and give you momentum to continue with your projects.

The rewards:

-handling them makes you better

The reality is, if you handle setbacks, you will get better at handling them, and they become less debilitating than the previous ones. It can depend on the severity of the setbacks on whether they take more out of you to handle. The experience you gain in overcoming each setback helps give you tools for future setbacks.

-unexpected successes

As you handle setbacks, you might find that you accomplish unanticipated events that give you rewards you couldn’t have bought or even imagined.

Franklin D. Roosevelt has the credit of saying a smooth sea never made a skilled sailor. It would be great if things always worked out, there was no unexpected events but that isn’t real life. Things will go wrong, unexpected events take your focus, life happens. As you gain experience in handling situations it takes you less time to recover from the setbacks.

Future proofing:

 

- Was the setback preventable (flat tire), do regular maintenance

If you have a setback, take the time to review what happened. This can be as quick or as drawn out as you prefer. Then depending on the setback you can decide if there things you can do ahead of time to ensure it does not get repeated.

- You get asked to help out with something, you never know when you need to help out

Have some flexibility in your schedule. Helping is usually never at the most convenient times, but helping can build stronger relationships and introduce you to new skills and environments.

- Have a financial reserve (the second you use it, start re adding to it)

Building up an emergency fund does not sound fun. Then there is that critique that the second you need it is gone. This is why you add to it. There will come a time where you won’t need it and you can save up extra to help ensure you don’t need it as often as you used to.

- Set up your environment

Depending on the project you are working on, you might be able to set up an environment that lets you get started the second you walk into that environment. The quicker you can get started on a project the more motivating it can be to do that said project.

Setbacks are a part of life. Focus on bringing more positivity into your life. Help ensure things are better than what they were before.


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