Crisis? Step Back, Re-Evaluate!

Now, who hasn't had a crisis in their life?

I've had more than a few.  Cancer, then my husband developing it, too.  Losing jobs.  Not being invited to neighborhood parties (just kidding, but how come, peeps?).

A new study claims that a crisis can derail efforts to meet a goal.

Setbacks are to be expected when pursuing a goal, whether you are trying to lose weight or save money. The challenge is getting back on track and not giving up after a difficulty or crisis, says a marketing professor in Iowa State University’s Ivy College of Business.

Now, this may sound like Captain Obvious (my favorite is him holding a bucket of ice and saying, "This is cold"!), but staying committed to a long-term health goal (these experts researched this on behalf of José Rosa's sister, a team member, who sister was struggling with diabetes) is, as those of us who have suffered life's little slings and arrows, is challenging.

It may often feel as if there is no light at the end of the tunnel. If your goal is to lose 20 pounds, there is a defined timeframe and a point to celebrate achieving your goal. However, if you are diabetic and need to cut certain foods from your diet or change your daily routine to exercise more, the goal has a different feel, Rosa notes. 

“These are some of the most difficult goals we face, because the effort has to become a way of life. If you’re a diabetic, you have to be thinking about your diet every time you eat,” Rosa explains. “In many ways, it is sacrificial. You must endure this cost and the reward is health.”

Unfortunately, the reward is not immediate (as those of us who struggle with our weight know all too well) and often difficult to realize with certain ailments, such as diabetes or high blood pressure. As we age, other health issues can complicate the outcome of the initial goal and appear as if our efforts are not paying off. This makes it harder to stick to the goal, Rosa reports, even though we know giving up can have serious consequences.

This, of course, also applies to life.  If you're trying for a promotion and it's taking time away from your family (and your partner is screaming bloody murder), you may not get that raise when you want it, or maybe ever.  But still, we need to fight.  What's that famous saying?  It's not how many times you get knocked down.  It's how many you get up.

Researchers conducted five experiments to understand how crisis influences motivation and commitment to the goal. They found a setback or difficulty often prompts people to reassess the cost-benefits of the goal and consider quitting. 

Once that questioning begins, we shift our mindset from implementation to evaluation. We renegotiate the importance of the outcomes and may determine it is no longer worth it, Rosa states. The researchers refer to that decision to quit as “taking the off ramp,” which can snowball into other problems.

“We know it’s hard to get back on once people take the off ramp. This causes some people to feel like failures and stop trying all together. In some situations, the off ramp leads to behaviors that cause another crisis or a significant decline,” he points out.

So, what to do?  Know that there will always be setbacks in your life.  But don't let them set you back.  Keep going.  And who knows?  You might get that promotion, after all!