How to Overcome Disappointment Even When You Didn’t Achieve Your Goals

overcoming disappointment

2020 was that year!

And it’s pretty much OKAY if you didn’t achieve even one out of the many goals you set.

As the year draws closer to the end, most people set new goals for themselves for the new year. I set my goals at the beginning of 2020 and I know you must have set yours too, but sometimes we fail to achieve these goals and we see it as a failure. 

You see, we are always worried about one thing or the other; why we should do this, what we should do, how we should do that. Although I totally believe in setting goals and achieving the set goals, there are times when we put in everything we have and make every possible effort we can but still, we face obstacles that set us up to fail. So we become hopeless that we are unable to see the other side of failure where several opportunities lie.

It is possible to feel weak enough not to see other opportunities but if you just look on the bright side you might be able to achieve other things. Keep reading if you want to overcome the disappointment of not achieving your goals. 

Related: How to Destress: 12 Easy Ways to Combat Daily Life Stressors

overcome disappointment

Overcoming disappointments: why it is okay if you didn't achieve your goals

Overcoming disappointments is not easy, it requires lots of self-realization, the ability to accept the fact that you’ve not achieved your goals, and self-motivation.

Time is never running out. You have this year to plan ahead of next year.

Here are the reasons why it’s okay if you haven’t achieved your set goals in 2020:

Primary issues change

When creating goals, you should know that time moves as well. The more time changes, the more your goals change too. Everything you hoped to do the past five months might change with time. In fact, your priorities may become irrelevant due to new things that have sprung up on your list. 

So why should you feel bad about that? If your priorities have changed then it’s okay you couldn’t achieve other goals you canceled. It doesn’t make you a failure, it just means you added a better goal that would make you happy to the list. 

I say bravo!

Achieving every single goal on your list shows they are too easy

Yes! I hate to break it to you but maybe some goals are just too intangible and easy to achieve. Look, you shouldn’t want or expect every goal to be achieved. I know it’d build your confidence if you achieve every goal you set but are you creating tangible goals? Like I mentioned in the previous point; goals change as time changes. We switch better goals for the intangible ones.

You are challenged to try harder

Failing might emotionally weaken you but trust me if you open your eyes to opportunities, then you will be motivated. If you didn’t achieve the things you want then it should encourage you to push on and work harder to be able to cross-out (achieve) every goal on your list.

If there’s a mistake that is stopping you from achieving your goals, then failing should teach you to avoid that same mistake in order to win! 

Try some other method and see what happens.

Practice in failing

Failure can frustrate anyone but how about showing failure who is the boss? 

You’ve failed to achieve a goal? Learn to deal with it by doing things differently so you don’t fail again. 

This “small” failure can motivate you to build things, achieve your goals, and smack failure in the face.

While I’m not sure about the goals you’ve set or whether these goals match your current resources (financial, time, strengths, motivation, etc.) a good way to end 2020 is to sit at your desk and draft out these goals and then assess them. If your goals have all the passion and motivation but lack the talent to do it, then it doesn’t have all the resources needed.

So, you should critically assess every goal listed, cross out intangible ones and move to the next goal.

  • Let’s say you have done that objective evaluation, what are the required resources that should be in place for you to achieve your goals? Ask yourself these questions?
  • What can I achieve today? What can I achieve this week or this month or year?
  • Do I have the resources to achieve these goals?
  • If yes, will your resources cost you a lot?

If you have positive answers to every question asked then your goals have passed the evaluation stage and you should move them to the planning stage.

Now that you know it’s okay not to achieve your set goals in 2020, I bet you are ready to go into 2021 with your head held up high and a smile on your face.

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Hi! I'm Dr Jessica

I share my expertise as a Family Physician to provide you with the support and tools to a holistic lifestyle.

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