Setting goals does not just apply to your career, your finances, or your fitness. Goals apply to every aspect of your life and that includes your relationship. If you are single and you’re sick of being that way, then you need to come up with a plan to change that and you need to approach it with the very same determination as you would any other type of goal.
What’s Holding You Back?
The first thing to do when trying to change the way you’re approaching your love life, is to look at what is holding you back.
For many people, it’s actually a lack of trying. Either they’ve been hurt before, they’ve lost confidence, or they just don’t realize they have to. But at the end of the day, if you’re tired of being single, then you need to work at this just as you would anything else. That might mean trying online dating, it might mean going to bars more, or it might mean just asking people out in the street.
While some people aren’t trying at all though, many other people are simply trying the wrong strategy or focussing on the wrong thing. These are the people who know they don’t want to be single any more but who aren’t quite sure how to change that.
For example, if you want to have a more active sex life then you shouldn’t be dating your friends as that is more likely to lead to a long-term relationship. If you want a long-term relationship, then looking at bars or on Tinder is likewise misguided.
Actually, pining after friends is generally a bad idea and it’s something that can really waste your time unless you have a drastic plan to change the way they see you. And then there are people who simply fail to correctly assess their own desirability to certain groups.
Then there’s the chance that you’re doing everything right but just not getting results, in which case you need to focus on your approach. That might mean the way you present yourself, or the way you come across in conversation. Many of us will unintentionally come across as sleazy, as needy, as clingy, or as desperate – none of these things are going to help your chances!
How to Make the Change
Once you’ve identified the problem, it’s time to start making the change. The first thing to do is to make the commitment to be proactive. That means regularly approaching people, or signing up to online dating and putting in effort (just creating a profile is not enough) or to improving your approach and your swagger.
Then you need to come up with a plan and think about how to make best use of your resources. For instance, Facebook can be a surprisingly effective way to meet people and also to reconnect with old people. Perhaps there is an old flame you could start messaging? Or maybe you could add someone that you met at a party?
If you’re shy of approaching the opposite sex, then maybe you should think of a way to work up to it and to build your confidence.
Sometimes it means not taking the most obvious route but the most important thing is that you identify the weak points in your game and your strategy and then work to fix those.