Learn to nurture your motivation and defeat your Zone of Regret.
When you fail to reach your goals, it can be hard to decide whether to keep trying or move on.
Sometimes, you will stick in a cycle of regret. And there’s nothing you can do besides accepting it. But other times, you will be on the verge of the cliff. You will make a life decision. And you must understand which option will make you happier.
Content creation is a job that defeats many dreams. If you miss motivation, you will abandon it in a few months. But you will find successful content creators everywhere. And, sooner or later, you will feel regret climbing up your veins.
So how can you avoid the feeling of regret?
Here are three content creation choices I think you might regret in life and a few suggestions on how to dodge them.
3 Common Content Creation Pitfalls You Want To Avoid
The decision to keep trying or to move on is personal. You must be honest with yourself and recognize when you still have a chance of succeeding and when it’s time to give up. But in content creation, there are 3 common pitfalls you want to avoid in the zone of regret.
1 — Not reaching financial stability.
Freedom is one of the things that attracts most content creators in the first place. But you achieve it only when you become financially independent and organize your work instead of having a boss do it for you.
Content creation is one of the few jobs that can make you achieve it. You only need creativity, a propensity to change, and an open mind. But sometimes, it is not enough.
Not reaching financial stability is one of the content creation pitfalls you want to avoid regretting. So what could you dobefore abandoning content creation that could improve your financial stability?
- Are there any signals you could improve your revenue from content creation? You may have created something that performed better than everything else and made you some money.
- Can you replicate that success? You should try to create more content like that and see if it succeeds the same way and if it allows you to become financially stable.
2 — Not building a legacy.
Humans are mortal beings. They are born, they live, and then they die. But humans discovered a way to become immortal in the mind of their peers — building a legacy.
If you build a legacy, you will impact the world through your work, and it will remember you. And content creation is one of the simplest ways to make one.
Artists, writers, and singers have all been content creators of their times. And people remember their names because they build a legacy with them. Everybody knows who Da Vinci was, which songs Freddie Mercury wrote, or which ideas Kant shared with the world. And if you want people to remember you, this is one thing you may regret if you leave content creation. So before making that choice, ask yourself these questions:
- Are you interested in legacy and what it brings?
- Do you want to become famous or at least recognizable?
- And if so, how can you grow your audience?
3 — Not collaborating with other creators.
One common content creation pitfall you want to avoid is not collaborating with your peers.
You can interact with the top only once you become part of it. And if you do, you will team up with interesting people and build relationships that will expand your knowledge and business.
But if you leave before interacting with other creators or customers, you will never experience this transfer. You will miss the opportunity to work with clients and creators worldwide. And you might regret it.
So appreciate every minute you can spend interacting with people thanks to this job. Gather every information they can share with you. And use that knowledge to improve your product and succeed.
When to throw the towel
Sometimes, giving up is the best option. It’s important to recognize when to move on without clinging to useless relationships, jobs, or other life decisions.
Staying in a situation that doesn’t give you anything back can lead to unhappiness and sadness. You will feel exhausted and lose motivation to do anything. So it is better to recognize when it’s time to throw the towel and move on.
But how can you recognize when it’s time to give up?
Usually, you can search for three indicators:
- Lack of growth. When a situation becomes stagnant and doesn’t make you grow anymore, it may be time to move to the next experience.
- Negative feelings. If your life goal gives you more negative than positive feelings.
- Lack of progress. If you can’t reach new heights, no matter the effort, it may be time to consider other options.
When to keep trying
If any of the indicators above don’t apply, you may still have a chance to succeed. But you don’t have to overturn each of them.
Sometimes, you will continue working on a dream only because nothing happened. And you may still grow.
Or maybe following your dream gives you positive feelings. And you feel like you are making progress. In all these cases, you should keep going because success might be closer than you think.
But you have to understand failure is an option you cannot avoid. It is necessary to grow. And without it, you won’t have any feedback on how to improve. So if a task matters to you, make an effort to keep trying until you achieve success.
How to Escape the Zone of Regret
Financial stability, legacy, and collaboration are the 3 common content creation pitfalls you must always watch out for to escape regret. If you don’t, you may fall and hurt yourself. And you might spend time wondering what would have happened if you had insisted a little more.
And although regret is a natural emotion everyone experiences, sometimes it can become dangerous for your health. So how can you steer clear?
I think there are two ways you can do it.
1 — Never enter it.
First, you avoid it.
I always believed reducing the possibility of regret is the first way of avoiding it. And you can do it by analyzing your life situation and making mindful decisions.
I can always escape from something that makes me feel trapped and desperate. And I can always nourish what helps me grow and brings me joy, even when it fails me.
So mind your decisions to avoid the zone of regret because every time you leave something behind, it might turn and bite you. And once you make a decision, never look back.
2 — Restart or find closure.
The second way to steer clear of regret is to restart or find closure.
Unreachable goals might become achievable with time. So if you feel regretful about something, you might start working on it again if you think you can succeed this time. For example, I started writing more than once until I found my way. And abandoning writing made me grow more than working on the wrong goals.
But you cannot restart some things that are long gone. And sometimes, the gap is too deep. So searching for closure is the only way to escape the zone of regret.
When I was younger, I used to play the guitar, and I wanted to become a professional. But when I failed to enter the music academy, my dream shattered. However, I found closure with time. I restarted playing the guitar only for fun. And it helped me deal with the regret I felt in my heart.
So if you cannot escape the zone of regret and cannot restart working on your dreams, at least find closure. It will help you live a meaningful life.
Final Thoughts
Dealing with regret is challenging because whatever choice you make, it could always turn back on you.
Sometimes, you choose out of greed or delusion instead of clear reasoning. And you will always regret those choices.
Yet honesty is your greatest ally. And if you use honesty to understand when to give up and when to keep going, you will never feel regret.
Most times, one last push is the only thing you need. Other times, not even hundreds of pushes will make you succeed. And how you live those failures is the only thing that matters.
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Cover photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels for 3 Common Content Creation Pitfalls To Watch Out for and How To Steer Clear.