Over the past five years, I’ve been starting and stopping things. Now, I wonder—what if I didn’t stop?
Here’s a review of what I’ve started and reasons I stopped:
2019
Fitness Blog: I thought I couldn’t make it work because fitness is more than writing or reading, it’s about showing. I could’ve written about how doing this exercise and that exercise can make you fitter, or why I choose to work out at home instead of the gym, but I didn’t and I can’t remember why. It died a slow death.
Goals Blog: I was inspired by Goal Guys where they take on different challenges over a set number of days. Their challenges range from fitness to personal development, such as doing 100 pushups every day to reading 30 books in a month. I’m not really sure why I didn’t push through with this, but my guess is I lacked time because I focused too much time on selling my time for money.
2020-2021
Marketing Instagram account: This account is still active but not thriving. I started this, and I couldn’t make it grow. Again, I’d like to blame it on a lack of time – despite being at home for the whole year. Because again, I was too focused on selling my services and yes, I had Little O.
Medium.com: I wrote a few articles related to personal development in the hopes of earning money. But again, the impatient person in me gave up. And now, as I visited my Medium.com profile, I saw some articles got 200-400 likes. What if I continued doing it? What if I didn’t stop? Oh well, too late for that now.
Fitness TikTok account: A TikTok account where I’ll document my fitness journey (without showing my face). I gave it a shot. I tried to upload a video but I didn’t like it! Because… TikTok is overstimulating. At least on Instagram feed, I get one video at a time – and I can get a break unless I scroll down. But with TikTok, everything’s on the go. One video finished and another video scrolls up at once. I have no regrets about not continuing this—TikTok is just not for me.
Skillshare: I uploaded a writing lesson, but I didn’t upload anything after that, but why?
2022
Online Blog: I started this blog and congrats, it lasted longer than the other blogs! Imagine, this blog has been up and running for two years already! I post occasionally, but this year, I’m committing to writing more!
2023
Personal Development YouTube channel: I must have uploaded two videos, and I created them with the help of AI, but I got discouraged because no one was watching! I thought it was a waste of effort – uploading three videos but no one was watching. What if I didn’t stop? What if I had continued uploading?
2024
YouTube fitness channel: The biggest challenge is not having a place to shoot in – I’m such a perfectionist that I want a background with minimal distractions. But this feels impossible because I live in a small space. The background is not the issue, it’s my perfectionism. A lot of people post videos with cluttered backgrounds (worse than mine), so why can’t I?
After contemplating, the reasons I stopped doing things are the following:
- Lack of time
- Perfectionism
- Lack of progress
If I’m being honest, these are just excuses. The real reason I stopped is because I simply didn’t want them enough.
I didn’t have a strong why for continuing the things I started. Even if no one’s reading or watching, if I wanted it bad enough, I would’ve pushed through with them.
I feel ashamed for sharing these things, but at the same time I remember the things I learned from the book Essentialism
Instead of asking, “What do I have to give up?” they ask, “What do I want to go big on?” The cumulative impact of this small change in thinking can be profound.”
It’s okay for us to explore to find the right one, and I haven’t given myself the chance to just explore without expecting ROI.
Perhaps I’m writing this topic because I uploaded a video on YouTube, and I told myself that even if no one watches it, I’ll continue doing it because I like it, and I just want to go back to my original passion – English education.
And what can you learn from my, so-called ‘failed’ endeavors? And what could’ve been the solution to these otherwise failed endeavors?
- Write down the things you want to do. You don’t have to try everything. Come up of a criteria that will help you choose your thing.
- Start little by little and work yourself up.
- Find a reason that connects with you on a deeper level. Your why.
- Cut off commitments that don’t bring you closer to your goals.
- Keep going. Even if you think there’s no progress, there is! And they’re the daily or weekly outputs you release. That’s still progress. If you feel like you’re not losing weight or getting enough views, focus on what you can control—your actions.
