When faced with challenges, often it’s easier to give up what we were trying to do than it is to find a way to proceed. Finding a way forward can mean challenging our perceptions, giving up on previous ways of thinking, and sacrificing well-trodden paths. It means tackling the big C word: change.
Us humans are trained to feel suspicious of change. It’s a self-protection mechanism: beware of the unknown. We are hard-wired to seek ways of doing things where we can feel safe and secure – and usually this means doing things the same way, over and over again. We train ourselves to believe there is a right and a wrong version of events; a right and a wrong way of doing things; and our belief systems because well-versed so that the ‘beliefs’ that we perceive as real are often just that: our own beliefs, our own versions of reality.
When was the last time you tried to challenge your own way of thinking, to step out into the unknown and try a new way of doing things? It’s uncomfortable, right? Many of us become driven by fear: we do things because we are afraid of what will happen if we don’t, and the same is true of what we don’t do.
I heard a speaker at a conference last year say that he does not live his life driven by fear. Instead, he does everything out of love. I’ve since become completely fascinated by this perception, because I’ve realised that a lot of what I do – what many of us do – is driven by fear.
We work in jobs we dislike because we are afraid of the unknown, of trying something new, of not having an income. We exercise because we are afraid of the health and weight repercussions. We eat badly sometimes because we are afraid that we won’t be able to change our way of eating. We steer clear of challenges because we’re afraid that we’ll fail.
Flipping this way of thinking is an interesting concept.
What if everything we did, we did it out of love? It’s impossible to love everything that you do – rather, it’s about planning and doing tasks from a place of love. This brings me to the point that when faced with challenges, it’s easiest – and safest – to stop. It’s so much easier in the short term to simply keep things on the easy path – the path that’s well trodden.
This is when it’s so important to find another way to overcome the challenge – if it’s something you really want to do. I’m going to use Daily Inspiration Board as an example here.
It would be really easy for me to keep going the way it’s going. In fact, the easiest thing in the short term would be for me to stop it altogether. My, the time I would have on my hands! Often, I get asked how I find the time to keep going with it all – because it’s essentially like having a second full-time job. It makes it easier because I love it, but there’s also a lot of challenges. For example, I don’t have a big budget or staff to help me overcome hurdles and move the needle forward. I don’t even have the time to attempt to do it myself. How do I do it?
I find ways around, under, over or sideways to continue.
Rather than allowing things to stay the same, I push forward in small ways. Even if it’s five minutes here, 10 minutes there, or a chunk of time that I can draw out on a Sunday afternoon. I find ways to match what I’ve been doing in the past, and then exceed it. I find a way to do the next thing just a little better than what I did before, or do a little more than I’ve done in the past. I become more efficient, more effective, and I do it all from a place of love so that I can have the heart, the courage and the motivation to continue.
The most difficult times are when I do something that doesn’t work, or I keep making efforts and don’t get results. It’s the times that I don’t get in front of the right people, I don’t have time to do enough marketing, or I hit a tech hurdle that I just can’t figure out a way through. There’s also the times that I’m just so busy and drained that I have to force myself to work when I would rather be reading a book, hanging out with friends or relaxing in the bath.
But if I don’t move the needle forward, who will? It’s the same with everything else in life. You are the master of your own destiny, and all of those dreams floating around in your head will remain just that – dreams – until you can write them down, plan them out, and figure out ways to get under, over or sideways around the issues your plan presents.
There’s always another way – it’s just if you choose to pursue it.
When have you had to forge a new path to get to where you want to go?
