It’s the end of March. We’re one quarter of the way through 2018. If you’re like most people, you started the year with goals and plans for the things you wanted to accomplish. If you’re smart, you broke down your goals for the year into steps you would take and planned how you would accomplish those steps week by week and month by month.

You set out to follow those steps. Really you did! And with good intention and commitment. And it’s the beginning of April and you didn’t get all of them done and even though the year isn’t over, you’ve already fallen behind.

Does this sound familiar? It should. It’s what happens to most people who set goals, especially “stretch” goals for themselves. Did you know about 80 percent of those who make New Year’s resolutions have failed at those resolutions six weeks into the year? It’s not just New Year’s resolutions–most people who set goals for themselves fall down on those goals somewhere along the way, so you’re far from alone or unusual.

If you are someone who feels like you are further away from your goals than you would like to be, here are 4 pieces of advice for when (inevitably) you fail to meet your own expectations.

Don’t give in to all-or-nothing thinking.

People get discouraged, and it’s easy to give up. But it’s what you do now, after your initial plans got derailed, that really matters. So you weren’t as perfect as you thought you should be. If you abandon your goals now, you’ll be throwing away whatever work you did do.

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