Starting down a new path in life can sometimes be so overwhelming, many people fold or play the cards they're dealt. Whether you're beginning a new business, career, relationship or moving to a new location, adjusting to challenges that inevitably present themselves can leave you wondering if you've made the right decisions.
Nobody has a crystal ball that foresees the future and unaccounted circumstances will undoubtedly present themselves. Knowing how to navigate through obstacles is an acquired skill worth investing in. Here are some insights that will trump most difficulties you'll encounter.
Know Your Why
If you've lost your hustle, it's because you're not in tune with why you're doing it.
Knowing deep down in your bones, why you're doing anything is a source of energy and inspiration that can't be extinguished. It's a fire that can't be put out by criticism, doubt or negativity and acts as fuel to carry you through life's challenges.
What is it in life that makes you come alive and you could do all day and night without ever getting tired of it? When you know that and follow that path, you'll never work another day in your life. You'll be busy, but it will never feel like work to you. It will feel like inspiration.
The word inspiration is Latin for "to breathe life into" and when you see or feel inspiration there's no mistaking it. Whoever possesses it is genuinely living.
Children notoriously ask the question why, searching for answers to everything they encounter and we should always cultivate that inquisitiveness in ourselves to grasp the true reasons why we want to pursue anything.
Owning a clear understanding of why we want what we want, will motivate you to get to where you see yourself in your near future and guide you through the challenges to achieving your goals.
Decide
Whatever you decide to do in life, make sure it makes you happy.
Once you've made a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen. You and only you are responsible for making your life decisions.
If you know your "why", making decisions gets easier. But whatever you do, make a decision. The road of life is paved with flat squirrels who couldn't make a decision.
You're the CEO of your own life, start making executive decisions.
Whenever you're making an important decision, ask yourself this. "Is it getting me closer to my goals or further away?" If the answer is closer, pull the trigger. If the answer is farther, make another decision.
We need to except that we won't always make the right decisions, that we'll screw up royally sometimes. Failing is not the opposite of success, it's part of success. As long as you learn something from each failure you come up against, you haven't really failed at all, you've learned how to get one step closer to success.
Commit
Do or do not. There is no try - Yoda
Commitment means staying loyal to what you said you were going to do long after the mood you said it in has left you. Commitment is the glue that bonds you to your goals.
Once you've made a decision and you know why you made it, commit to it all the way. Be like a postage stamp and stick to a thing till you get there.
You should never let go of your dreams, but dreaming is not the same as doing. Granted, if you're a forty years old and your lifelong dream is to be a Mouseketeer, you might want to let that one go.
An extremely successful friend of mine, Lennon Leadbetter described the difference between a dreamer and a winner to me this way.
Some people can hold on to their dreams for a day or two and some people can hold onto their dreams for a couple of months or two. Some may even hold on to their dreams for a year or two, but a winner holds on to their dreams until their dreams comes true. - Lennon Leadbetter
Begin
Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin. - Mother Teresa
Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently. If you want to change your life, begin by changing your words. Start speaking the words of your dreams, of who you want to become, not the words of fear and failure.
Do something each day that moves you in the direction you want to go. Life is like a taxi, the meter keeps ticking whether you're going somewhere or standing still. Get in, get on with it and go somewhere.
Invest 100%
DO put all your eggs in one basket. - Warren Buffet
Study nature and evolution and you'll see that putting all your eggs in one basket and watching and caring for that basket with everything you got, is a good survival strategy. You may lose everything, but could gain everything.
Diversifying is planning not to lose which is not the same as succeeding. It can be uncomfortable to put everything you got into a business or relationship, but the worst that can happen is you fail.
If you're going to fall in love, for example, go all in. The worst that could happen, is your heart will break into a million pieces. You'll live, I promise, and be stronger and wiser for it. A comfort zone is a beautiful place, but nothing ever grows there.
The Dream, The Struggle, The Victory
If you can find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn't lead anywhere. - Frank A. Clark
Obstacles will come your way to see if what you want is really worth fighting for. Every set-back bears with it the seeds of a come-back. If you're not struggling, you're not growing or going anywhere.
Don't be disappointed if people refuse to help you. Remember the words of Einstein, "I'm thankful to all those who said no. Because of them, I did it myself."
If you're going through hell, whatever you do, don't stop there. Keep going until you're not in hell anymore. There is a light at the end of the tunnel. Don't let your struggle become your identity.
Realize there's always a price to pay for victory. Be willing to pay the price of admission and know that when things feel challenging, you're getting closer to your dream.
Attitude
You cannot control what happens to you, but you can control your attitude towards what happens to you, and in that, you will be mastering change rather than allowing it to master you. - Brian Tracy
You can't change the direction of the wind, but you can adjust your sails to always reach your destination.
Your attitude will impress people more than your words. They don't remember what you say, they remember who you are. Be somebody that makes everybody feel like somebody.
Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference and attracts similar attitudes to itself. Attitudes are contagious. Make yours worth catching.
Persist
Thankfully, persistence is a great substitute for talent. - Steve Martin
Never let the odds keep you from doing what you know in your heart you were meant to do. Persistence can turn failures into glorious successes. Million dollar ideas are a dime a dozen. The determination to see the idea through is what's priceless.
Persistence is far more important than perfection. All great successes are the triumph of persistence. Somewhere someone is looking for exactly what you have to offer. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up, show up and never give up.
Grandfather's Advice
And lastly, I'll leave you with some advice my grandfather gave to me when I was too young to understand it. Thankfully, he said it so consistently that it stuck in my mind until I was old enough to appreciate it.
No matter what you do in life, someone's not going to like it. The most important thing is, make sure that someone is not you. - Grandpa LuzCypher
Image credit
And lastly, I'll leave you with some advice my grandfather gave to me when I was too young to understand it. Thankfully, he said it so consistently that it stuck in my mind until I was old enough to appreciate it.
No matter what you do in life, someone's not going to like it. The most important thing is, make sure that someone is not you. - Grandpa LuzCypher
Grandpa's are the wisest :)
An motivational and inspiring article - it takes sheer determination, single mindlessness and guts to make it to the end of a dream! not everyone has that and that's why only a small percentage of people make it to where they REALLY want to be. I tell my girls that they can be and do anything they want to do in this world if they are determined enough - both my husband and I are enterpernurial and know what it takes to make it happen, so I enjoyed your article as I can relate to it . Thanks for the share
I'm so happy you read the post and enjoyed it.
Your grandpa's advice is PERFECT! I have honestly never heard that essential idea stated in such a wise yet accessible way. You were also brilliant to end with that quote! I'm going to go and tell my kids that advice right now.
Thank you for reading the post. Grandpa gave great advice to his 14 children.
Nice article, Luz.
MouseketeerThanks!
You and I have had VERY different experiences. I've had all my ducks in a row and pieces in place such that it didn't seem possible that anything could go wrong. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, it goes wrong in ways unforeseeable and so catastrophic that there was no keeping the ship afloat, through no fault of my own.
Give up? No. But more than once the "universe" clearly conspired against my plans.
Likewise. You just keep going. Like my grandpa used to say, "Everything happens for a reason and sometimes the reason is we're stupid and make bad choices" That one always made me laugh.
Heh, been there, done that. :)
Very nice post that's well articulated. I can't express how true it rings out for me. Repost. Thanks for the effort you've put forward! This is usable content.
Thanks a lot. I'm happy you got something out of it.
This line: "The road of life is paved with flat squirrels who couldn't make a decision." Awesome. I laughed so hard. I'm totally going to remember that the next time I'm struggling with a decision.
I'm also going to hold onto this one to reread a few times. Thanks for posting!
Thanks for reading my post. I really like your username.
I wish I had a Grandpa who had told me that