Firstly, I admire you for deciding to achieve great things with your life; it takes courage to even start. However, you may have been able to pick yourself up after ‘failure’ number 1, but what do you do if you fail 10, 20 or 100 times? Many people find it extremely difficult to bounce back when all of the hard work seems to result in nothing.

What if, like Napoleon Hill suggested you are experiencing ‘temporary defeat’ and not permanent failure? The fact is you will never find out unless you have the tools to help you to keep going when all you want to do is quit.

Think about how these 4 strategies will help you during the hard times:

1: Re-ignite the Motivational Fire that was there when you started

As things get increasingly difficult, you are in danger of seeing things from a negative perspective. You may begin to focus on all of the things that are going wrong and you’ll start saying things like ‘what’s the point?’ If you think as your motivation as a fire, you will effectively be throwing water on it. It is absolutely vital to get some gasoline on that fire as soon as possible! You can do this by flipping your focus with powerful questions like these:

– Why do I want to achieve this? – (Write down 5 reasons why you HAVE to get it done.)

– How will I feel when I have overcome every obstacle and achieved the goal? (Get in touch with how amazing it will feel.)

– What will it cost me in 10 years time if I give up? (Really feel the pain associated with how your life will suffer in the future.)

It can even help to visualize a Fire in your mind’s eye and as you feel the motivation grow when you answer each question. Keep going until the fire become a Towering Inferno!

2: Find the Lesson and Use it to Your Advantage

What if your life was panning out exactly as it was supposed to? Sending you moments of temporary defeat so you could learn from them and end up even better? The more focus you place on finding the lessons in these challenging times, the shorter they will be and the more that they will help you. When you hear yourself say things like “Maybe I should just give up”, reframe it quickly and ask yourself “Where are the lessons in this situation that are going to help me move forward?” It may take a little practice but you’ll eventually find that you are very good at this way of thinking and the notion of giving up will enter your head a lot less.

3: Plan Your Next Forward Steps

As you realise you are going to keep moving forward you need to plan how. Decide on the first steps along the journey from the difficult place you are now in towards your ultimate triumph. The real power in this process comes with action. As soon as you have created the steps, begin to take them. This will allow you to build momentum very fast and make progress to the extent where you will start to ‘forget’ that you even entertained the idea of giving up. Ask yourself: What things can I do right now to move me in the direction of my Goals? As soon as the answer comes…start doing them.

4: K.I.S.S (Keep it Satisfyingly Simple)

You may be chasing a goal that requires you to do a lot of things and make a lot of changes. Trying to do all of this at once can be psychologically, physiologically, emotionally and spiritually painful. Break the whole process down into simple parts and make progress in one area at a time. This way, you will be reconditioning your mind for achievement and progress. You will find yourself in the habit of making progress and in the habit of achieving your smaller goals. The exciting thing is that you’ll find your BIG goal has snuck up on you and been achieved by taking these simple steps.

If you are feeling like you are about to give up you should draw strength from the fact that all of your role models and idols went through the same thing during their tough times. You can get to where you want to go if you get up, dust yourself off and keep going; just like they did.

Jermaine Harris is a young Online Life Coach, Author and Speaker. Jermaine has a vision of empowering millions of people with his unique brand of forward thinking, ‘gung ho’ approach to changing lives. Check out his Blog at http://jermaine-harris.com/blog/