Starting Over When Your Plan Isn’t Working

Starting over can have such a negative connotation. We often associate a redo with failure. This is especially true when it comes to goal planning. Think about yourself for a moment. You have a goal, your plan is in place but what happens when your plan isn’t working? Do you assume that the problem is your goal or the plan?

Typically, it’s your plan. I know that I personally have fallen into the trap of not putting together a well thought out plan before jumping in head first (usually because my excitement gets the best of me). This causes me to have to stop, mid #goalgetting and reassess. Once I have taken the appropriate time to fully plan out my action steps, I am in a much better place and can start back on my path.

Sometimes life is like that. We’re human. Here are the most common reasons that our goal planning doesn’t work:

1. We get excited and want to see success as quickly as possible. Do you ever try to rush through something just to get it over with so you can reap the benefits? Me too. Sadly, it rarely gets us to the successful ending we’re looking for.
2. We’re overachievers and bite off more than we can chew or we don’t give ourselves the necessary time needed to effectively accomplish our goals. Did you only give yourself six months to get that graduate degree? Oops. Although I feel your pain. I once gave myself a week to read an entire book even though I have four kids and three of them were in two activities each plus school and I had other commitments that same week.
3. Life gets in the way. Sometimes there’s no getting around the unknown. We can’t plan for a family emergency or a personal health issue. We don’t know that our spouse is about to lose their job and throw a wrench in you investing the money that you have saved into the business you wanted to start or the classes you wanted to take. Some things you just can’t plan for and will have a significant impact on the timing and maybe even your strategy.

All of this is okay. I’ll say it again for the stubborn ones in the back. IT’S OKAY. Yes, maybe we could have been better at planning #1 and #2 but instead of feeling like a failure, let’s think of it as a time of renewing, refreshing or even a rebirth. I firmly believe that everything happens for a reason and that there is always a lesson to be learned. When you find yourself stuck in a plan that isn’t working, I encourage you to stop, breathe and refocus. From there you should focus on the four W’s.

• What got in your way?
• Why it got in your way?
• What did you learn?
• What can you do differently next time?

Once you have those four W’s figured out, you will be able to identify your takeaway, fix what’s not working and start over. This can be applied to many areas of your life and once done effectively, you will start to see more success (and personal development through self awareness) than you ever did before. Remember, starting over isn’t failing, quitting is.

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