Overcoming PR Goal Challenges: Tips for Staying Motivated and On Track at Work and Home

Guest Blog Post by: Megan Isola

Everyone has goals in life, and those goals keep us going. However, staying motivated enough to reach your goals is a lot more challenging than having them. Whether you want to lose weight, buy a home, get a better job in the PR industry, or save up enough to make a large purchase, you must overcome various obstacles that can prevent you from achieving your goals. 

Sometimes, you might not feel like you’re working towards your goals at work, or everything in your life seems to stop you from achieving them. During difficult times, staying motivated is challenging. A negative mindset can set you back and prevent you from reaching your goals, but overcoming negativity and avoiding it by staying motivated and on track can keep you going. So how do you overcome goal challenges? Regardless of what challenges lie ahead, here are a few ways to overcome them and grow your career in PR:

Take Care of Your Health

Whether you have a health-related goal like losing weight, you must take care of your health to overcome any obstacles. For example, a patient with essential tremors might have several health obstacles that prevent them from becoming more active. Meanwhile, someone to save money can get sick and spend thousands of dollars on hospital bills. Taking proper care of your health is essential because even a small cold can set you back and make you feel unmotivated. 

You should take care of your health by visiting your doctor every year for your annual physical and making a health plan to ensure you’re active, happy, and healthy. Maintaining your health is important to being able to be successful at work with a clear mind and positive energy. 

 

Set Realistic Goals

The only way to stay motivated is to set realistic goals. For example, if your goal is to become more active, you can’t expect yourself to be good at cross-training if you’ve been sedentary your entire life. Instead, you have to start slow and consider achievable goals. If you’ve ever set any type of goals before, you’ve probably heard of the concept of SMART goals. 

SMART goals are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-based. You may have a long-term goal, such as saving enough money for a down payment on a home. In this case, you can set a SMART goal for the goal itself and create SMART goals for every month to help you save. For instance, your goal may be to be able to learn a new skill like Photoshop that will help you at work in PR. Instead of beating yourself up for not being able to be a master at Photoshop immediately after watching one YouTube video, find an online program that will teach you little by little and give yourself the time to be able to learn. 

Get Support

Everyone needs a support system to help them stay motivated. However, your support system may depend on your overall goal. For example, someone trying to become more active may have a workout buddy that goes to the gym with them. Meanwhile, someone who wants to save money may need support from a local bank or financial advisor to help them learn how to manage their finances. 

In addition, to support your goals, you should have a support system to help you through difficult times that can distract you. For example, if you’re feeling under the weather and won’t be able to work out for a week, your support system can help you get motivated again once you’re feeling better. In addition, these individuals can check in on your progress, even if they’re not directly involved in helping you achieve your goals. 

Predict Obstacles

We can’t predict everything that will happen to us, but we can predict some roadblocks that might hold us back from reaching our goals. For example, if you want to lose weight, a roadblock might be all the delicious food in your freezer or your sedentary lifestyle due to a desk job. Predicting these obstacles can help you brainstorm ways to overcome them. For example, if you have a desk job, you can stand up and move around every hour to help yourself stay active and energized. Meanwhile, you can toss all the unhealthy food and snacks in your home that arent rich in vitamins and nutrients or give them away to family and friends to be less wasteful. 

Maybe you find yourself constantly distracted on your phone at work instead of working on your projects in PR. You could try to avoid these obstacles by muting notifications from your social media apps that take your attention away from your work. 

Of course, your obstacles will vary depending on your goals, so you must take the time to determine the potential obstacles involved. Then, consider what’s holding you back and reflect on yourself, your behavior, habits, and lifestyle. 

Make Smaller Goals

If you have a long-term goal, it can be difficult to stay motivated because it’s so far into the future. For instance, if you’re trying to save for a down payment on a home, you might not be able to determine how long it’ll be until you can actually achieve that goal. Not being able to visualize a goal because it’s so far away can make you less motivated. After all, we want instant gratification. Luckily, you can break almost any goal into smaller goals. For example, you can make a goal to save x amount every week or month.

Meanwhile, if your goal is to lose 50 pounds, you can aim to lose x amount of pounds every month. Chunking your goals into smaller goals can help you feel more motivated. Once you achieve a small goal, you’ll be more determined to keep going. 

Celebrate Yourself

Always celebrate your victories to keep you feeling motivated. Whatever obstacle is in your way, you can overcome it as long as you continue to focus on your goals, and one of the best ways to do this is to reward yourself. Of course, your reward should make sense. For example, you shouldn’t reward yourself with a large purchase if you’re trying to save money. However, you can buy yourself a little something as a reward for reducing your overall spending over time. 

You can also reward yourself by taking a break and treating yourself. Planning these small rewards can give you something to work towards if your goals aren’t enough to fully motivate you, so we recommend finding ways to celebrate your victories throughout your journey.

Achieve Your Goals

There will always be obstacles to overcome, but as long as you stay focused and continue to find ways to motivate yourself, you can overcome any challenges. It’s okay to take a break from your goals from time to time, but most importantly, you don’t punish yourself if you don’t achieve your goals when you want. Instead, continue to stay motivated and create a plan that can help you jump any hurdles that come your way. 

About the Author: 

Megan Isola

Megan Isola holds a Bachelor of Science in Hospitality and a minor in Business Marketing from Cal State University Chico. She enjoys going to concerts, trying new restaurants, and hanging out with friends.