Interesting title really, "About Giving Up." What on earth is there about giving up that's so important? Giving up equates to no longer trying, losing face, not reaching your goal, avoiding success, letting yourself down, throwing in the towel, and ultimately, failing.

Ouch! There's that word. Let's shorten it to fail. There we have it - another four lettered word which we don't like. However, unlike the other four lettered words this one has ongoing negative effects which don't just relate to the present but have serious negative connotations for the future as well.

To fail is a situation we all know too well. We have all done it to varying degrees. It is a direct result of giving up trying. You have absolutely no chance of success if you give up. This is counter to all of our beliefs and desires. So why would we give up?

Here is a list of possible reasons but really why we give up on ourselves can only be answered by ourselves individually.

• Did I set my expectations too high? (c)
• Is the task simply too difficult?
• Did I perceive it as too easy therefore didn't put the necessary ground work in? (c)
• Was I really not at all interested? (c)
• Did I have something (apparently) better to do?
• Was it as important as I had at first thought? (c)
• Did I get the support I needed?
• Did the task change too quickly for me and I couldn't keep up? (c)
• Was my belief either not strong enough or nonexistent?
• Was it out of my league from the beginning? (c)
• Was I under resourced?
• Did I have insurmountable opposition?
• Did I just look for the easiest option? (c)
• Did I err on my calculations? (c)
• Did my staff respect me as I would liked them to have done? (c)
• Was my illness too great?
• Did I simply not give it my best shot? (c)

Okay - there's a list of 20 odd potential reasons why anyone would give up. Are any of them valid? Those that are can be reasons. Those that aren't are excuses. Excuses are inexcusable. Reasons can be those out of your control such as weather patterns or politics to those that you can control such as: "Did I simply not give it my best shot"?

I could write a full length book on the concept of failure alone- maybe I will at some point in the future but today I would like to concentrate on the factors you control and their impact onto what leads us to give up.

Take the above example ("Did I simply not give it my best shot"?) It is an honest question. Did you put your best foot forward at all times? Giving up happens when we no longer have the self-confidence to maintain persistence in achieving the task at hand. Ordinarily such a result is sourced from incredible amounts of negative energy and/or negative results.

Giving up doesn't happen because you're bored. If it does then you must doubt your reasoning for its commencement in the first place. Your tasks and goals need to be as much within your control as possible. If you are constantly subjected to State, Local & Federal Government Regulations then you are going to find that you spend an awful amount of time with compliance rather than actually expanding your business or whatever it is you actually are doing.

Similarly if you are trying to put a deal together and you don't have company control then you'll end up negotiating with the Company Bigwigs extensively before even get to the dealing table. All of these distractions can weight heavily on you and negate your energies for what you had planned to use them for.

Of course if weather affects what you do and is rarely favorable then it is only prudent to switch to something where you won't have to go into combat every day. My point is you need to bring as many facets as possible into your control. This way your energy can be optimized as you tackle those tasks that are more important to you rather than deal with aspects that are out of your control.

Pursuing this philosophy will ensure that you see results more directly from your labors. This ultimately keeps that "giving up" aspect far far away and out of contention. This is generally because your progress is much more measurable and obvious to you.

Now that you have more in your control doesn't guarantee your success either. Let's look at the list again. Those with a (c) beside them mean that it is something more than likely which falls within your control. So it's up to you to make the most if it. An example could be:

"Did I make an error in my calculations?"

We all make mistakes. It is human nature. But to achieve our tasks, goals and desires in a timely manner we need to learn from them. We need to bounce back, re-assess, re-calculate and try again. Knowledge is the King. Long live The King. It goes without say that the better informed you are the more pro-active you are in seeking out other such supporting and helpful information. Therefore, the wiser your decision making will become.

Giving up is not an option for any of us. We should review our reasonings regularly and adjust our direction as required. But we can't ever stop trying. It is at this point that we have indeed been defeated thus inducing failure.

Set your goals realistically. Work towards them making adjustments as required. Bounce back from every pitfall, gain strength and momentum from your mistakes and never ever give your dreams away. They are the lifeblood of your very existence. To give them away is the commencement of your decline.

Failure does not belong to you. Do not give up on your success and eventually... you will have it.

Copyright 2000All Rights Reserved Darren Roberts
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