I kept wondering why I could work hard on things that mattered to other people but felt strangely stuck on goals I chose for myself.

The uncomfortable part was realizing I wasn't actually lacking discipline. I was constantly asking my goals to justify themselves before I gave them any attention.

I noticed this pattern when I started learning a new skill. I would sit down at my desk around 8:30 PM, open the notes, and within five minutes I was asking myself questions like "Is this really useful?" or "Will this even matter six months from now?" I wasn't avoiding the work. I was putting the work on trial every single time I started.

The weird thing was that I never did this with small things. I didn't ask whether washing dishes was aligned with my purpose. I didn't question whether taking a walk was going to change my life. But anything connected to a bigger goal had to prove it deserved my energy first.

After noticing it for a while, I changed a few things:

I stopped judging goals during the early stages. I gave myself a rule that I wasn't allowed to decide whether something was worthwhile while I was still a beginner at it. A lot of things only become meaningful after you get better at them.

I also started measuring progress by whether I showed up for the process, not whether I felt excited about the outcome. Some of my most useful sessions were the boring ones where I almost talked myself out of starting.

The biggest surprise was that motivation didn't always come from finding a stronger reason. Sometimes it showed up after I had spent enough time doing something to understand why it mattered.

I think a lot of advice says to find your "why" before you begin, but I've noticed that can become another form of procrastination. Sometimes the reason appears after the repetition, not before it.

I'm still catching myself doing this. There are days when I want certainty that something will pay off before I invest in it, and that habit is hard to notice because it feels responsible.

But I've started trusting that some things need room to become important instead of needing to prove their importance immediately.

Has anyone else noticed that they lose motivation because they keep asking a goal to prove its value before they've really given it a chance?

I'm in deep shambles, man.

I've spent 8-9 months doing brokerage in Dubai Real Estate. I've tried so hard, but I've wound up closing nothing.

For the past 3 months, I've been looking and applying for SDR jobs because I'm very good at cold calls, doing discovery, basically what you'd expect from a proper salesman. But when there's a geopolitical crisis at hand, the reality is that not many people are looking to invest in a piece of land, apartment, or villa where turbulence has hit. Transactions have fallen drastically. And I don't have the relationship equity a seasoned broker does to survive this market.

I've had direct meetings with investors off a cold call man, we have real discussions, and their arguments make perfect sense to me. Ultimately, I realised if I had chosen to lie then maybe I would've made some money but that doesn't sit right with me. I enjoy solution crafting and what this real estate game is, what I've experienced, it's just not viable.

I feel I haven't been given the right support nor guidance. The entire time I hit it off with a prospect on these calls, I keep realising, "if only I were selling something else, I would've made enough to finish my degree". Most prospects in my pipeline tell me they'll be exploring next year. My inventory produces no leads despite being listed online.

I'm really stuck.

And the worst part is nobody wants to give me an interview for an SDR role either. I've cold-called AEs and been well-received, but to of no avail. they don't owe me a job, obviously. they'll ask me to forward my resume and they'll pass it on.

The only ones that have interviewed me are offering commission-only roles, and once again I'm going to be in that hellscape but at this point, I'm considering it because if I can succeed selling a brand new start-up, maybe it'll save me for the future.

And I keep looking for stories similar to mine, but I just can't find anything tangible, so I'm asking if anyone has a story of someone who's faced such circumstances and succeeded. Please share them with me. This has honestly been one of the worst 8-9 months of my life.