Being able to get back on track after experiencing a setback is crucial in making progress in life. No matter how big or small, setbacks are inevitable, and you must know how to deal with them when they come around.

To help, we've compiled some of the best ways for getting back on track in this blog post.

If you fall, get back up!

In life, it's normal to experience setbacks and problems while we are doing things. One excellent example is the COVID pandemic that hit everybody around the world. Let's say you are an employee of a big company and you are about to get promoted to a higher-paying position next month. Then the pandemic hit the month you are supposed to be promoted. The higher-ups have to make adjustments, and one of them includes holding back on your promotion. Suddenly, it feels like a meteor has hit your face. You feel lost and unmotivated to continue. Before the pandemic hit, you were already making long-term plans based on how much you could earn and save with your new position. The pandemic had put all of them to a halt. You find yourself in a pit hole. The question then is, what are you going to do next?

It's normal to lose motivation and have feelings of despair when something breaks us when we are rolling out doing things to meet our goals in life. However, it becomes problematic when we stay too long wallowing in pity and drama without taking any action to go back—getting back on track after falling feels like trying to rise from your very comfortable bed in the morning. It's as if there is a magnet that is preventing you from advancing. The good news is that you can do several things to get back up after losing your footing after some time.

1. Review your life

When you are in a slump, take some time to do a life audit under the current situation you are facing. Ask yourself some questions such as:

• Why did this setback happen?
• Is the problem caused by me or some external factor?
• Did something similar happen before?
• How do I react to such situations?
• What can I do to get back on track?
• What resources do I have at my disposal?

Taking the time to step back and do some life analysis allows us to understand the current situation better. By answering the questions above, you can then determine what to focus on doing so you can begin to move forward. It might be challenging to get the answers immediately by yourself, especially if you are not honest and don't know yourself. Getting the help of someone who knows you well can help pinpoint things that you might not see yourself. If you're not that close with someone, maybe you can try getting the help of a life coach. A life coach can provide an analysis of your life and provide solutions, and you can also have someone to talk to regarding what's happening in your life.

2. Find somebody to talk with

Sometimes, all we need to do to get life back on track is talk to somebody willing to lend an ear to our problems. It can be anybody from good friends, family members to colleagues in the workplace. The goal is to express and vent out all those thoughts and emotions accumulating in your head so you can have that feeling of releasing that weight in your head. Speaking with someone doesn't necessarily mean you are seeking help or advice. But, you need some form of release to reduce stress and feel more comfortable improving your well-being and gaining the confidence to start working on solving your problems.

3. Stop the excuses

It's elementary to give reasons when we don't feel like doing what we are supposed to do. Some examples are:

• If you are supposed to do some exercise routine to stay fit, you can say the gym is too far from my house, and I don't have enough money to continue doing it.
• You have to eat healthy foods, but you continue to munch on snacks and junk foods and say, "I can just do some workouts to lose any excess weight I gain."
• You wanted to start a business, but you keep saying you don't have enough time to start researching and learning how to create one.
• Learning new skills can give you a promotion in your company, but you always say you don't have enough experience and creativity to know them.

The list of excuses can go on but let's stop enumerating them. Sometimes, it's our bad habits that prevent us from walking back up again after falling. Giving excuses, procrastinating, and being too hard on ourselves are some of the things that stop us from taking the first step to recover from a setback.

Instead of focusing on the losses and negatives, focus on what you can do to change your situation. Stop complaining, ranting online, and making excuses. Successful people focus on what they can start doing after falling. It would help if you did the same too.

4. Do something, even if it's just small

Concerning doing something after experiencing a setback, working on something even in small chunks can make a difference to what can happen to you in the future. Staring at that big goal on the horizon is sometimes why we might feel overwhelmed and discouraged from taking any steps to achieve success. The trick is to do something, no matter how small it may be, to get a headstart and have that feeling in your head that you accomplished something. Do 1% a day. Focus on what you can achieve now. This trick happens because all the small things you do every day will accumulate and eventually lead you to hit that big goal in the end.

5. Change your environment

Part of the reason you might not feel like doing anything to get back up is your environment. Let's use the work-from-home setup as an example. You are very used to working as an employee going to the office and doing commute every day. Suddenly, you get thrust into a situation where you have to work in the confines of your home due to the pandemic. You then find yourself in a slump, unable to function appropriately and focus due to the environment. What you can do is try to make your workspace conducive for work as much as possible. Try to place items that make you smile on your desk. Maybe you can try putting some figures of your favorite characters on your desk if you have them. Changing the wallpaper of your computer can even help motivate you to work. Put something that you like as a wallpaper, and when you begin losing interest in your work, minimize that browser and all running apps and stare at that wallpaper. When you have the money, try buying new techs such as a high-spec laptop and mouse or some new headphones. Listen to some music while working. New things can bring joy and motivation to get back at it and start working.

6. Look back at your vision and values

It's easier to get back on track if you know who you are and have a vision, and know what you value in life. Having a vision is like putting your life in a straight line, and setbacks make you take a curve from the straight line. So if you know your vision and values, you have to look back at them when problems happen so you can work hard and go back to the straight path. That's why it's essential to set your vision and goals early, so you know how to reorient yourself later in life. You have to realize that setbacks will happen, and you can always do something to turn your life around for the better.

Get back on track and do something with your life.

What separates the most successful people from others is how fast they get back up on their feet after experiencing setbacks. They don't spend all the time wallowing in drama and self-pity. Sure, they still feel down, but soon enough, they will plan to go back on track, and you can do the same. It takes a good amount of mental clarity and discipline to develop a mindset that bounces back quickly from a failure. You might also need to get out of your comfort zone at some point. It can be hard to learn all this alone, so getting inspiration from someone can help. You can try getting advice from someone you look up to, or maybe a life coach can help you. Combine this mental resiliency with hard work, persistence, and consistency, and setbacks will only look like minor annoyances to you.