Challenges and obstacles are all a necessary part of any success journey

Challenges and obstacles are all a very necessary part of any success journey. Ask any super achiever, who has achieved their success, despite having overcome numerous challenges and obstacles, along their path to success. If they could go back and do it all over again, but this time around, they could avoid the greatest challenge, they faced the first time round. Ninety nine out of one hundred of the super achievers would invariably say that they would leave things exactly the way they were, as the challenges they faced and overcame, were often the very catalyst that unlocked some hidden potential, which accelerated their success or the very thing, which unlocked new knowledge that has since proved invaluable to them.

Lance Armstrong, arguably the best cyclist, who has ever lived, has won the toughest cycle race in the world, namely the Tour de France, an incredible seven times in a row. Before he developed cancer, he was just another good cyclist. After fighting and winning the battle against testicular cancer, he became unstoppable and changed from a virtually unknown good cyclist, into one of the greatest cyclists of all time. His greatest challenge turned out to be his greatest opportunity.

Wilma Rudolph was described as the fastest women on earth, at the 1960 Summer Olympic Games, held in Rome. She had suffered with many childhood diseases, including measles, whooping cough, scarlet fever and polio. The polio left her with a twisted left leg, which required a leg brace. She stated in an interview after winning gold at the Olympic Games that the reason she had trained so hard and had the ability to dig deep when needed, was as a result of all the obstacles and challenges she had, had to overcome with her health as a child. She said that all the obstacles and challenges that she had faced, had made her train harder and longer than anyone else and had given her far more determination than any of her competitors.

My experience has shown me that every challenge you encounter, is really only an opportunity in disguise and very often the very catalyst you need to unlock crucial ideas or concepts, which may have remained hidden from you, had you not encountered the challenge in the first place. I want to go even one step further and say that challenges, obstacles and roadblocks are a very necessary part of any success journey as they help you to develop and grow.

When you were learning to walk, every time you fell down or encountered a new obstacle, like an incline, steps etc., you learnt a valuable lesson. All of these lessons, over time added up into your ability to walk around freely and experience the freedom and mobility you now have. While you were learning to walk, do you think you fell down, scuffed your knee or possibly even fell and split your head open? Yes of course you encountered challenges and obstacles, yet you are walking today. Why is that? The answer is really simple, you just never gave up, and you just kept trying, failing and learning until you finally succeeding.

Well if you were that tenacious back then, why do you give up at the first hurdle you encounter on your success journey today? If you apply the same level of determination to everything you do today, you can and will achieve the same positive result that you managed to achieve as a child. You can achieve almost anything, if you believe in yourself and push yourself every day. Success is just a few failures away.

Failing is just part of any success journey and one of the best ways for you to become better. Failure is not only a necessary part of any success journey, but also a measure of the fact of how well you are doing, as you push yourself, trying to constantly improve and get better. Failure, challenges and obstacles are in fact just markers along your success journey. When you learn to appreciate, celebrate and overcome them, you will have discovered the perfect philosophy to bring greatness into your life.

The measure of a person is never in whether they get knocked down or not. The true measure of anyone, is in how long they stay down, before they jump straight back in the saddle and start to make things right after they get knocked down. Of course failure, challenges, disappointments or roadblocks will hurt; we are only human after all. The secret is to know that although it will cause pain in the short term. When enough time has passed, every challenge will be seen as something positive. Learn the art of looking for the opportunity in any challenge or disappointment and you will have discovered the greatest success tool possible. Confucius said it so well when he said, “Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in getting up every time we do.”

Action Idea: Start learning the art of exploring any challenges, disappointments, roadblocks or FAILURES and very quickly changing your mental state. The longer you remain in a negative state, where you feel overwhelmed or sorry for yourself, the lower the possibility there is for you to discover the hidden opportunities, which are available to you. Learn to give yourself only a few minutes to pout and sulk, before you brush yourself off and jump straight back into the saddle.

Try to replace the challenging experience, with a more positive experience or feeling as soon as possible. Your mind does not know the difference between a real or visualised experience. With practice, you can quickly change your state, by just thinking better more positive thoughts. Never allow yourself to end a day on a negative note or in defeat. Try to keep working, until you can end your day on some kind of victory, even if it is just a small win.

As Henry Ford Said “You will never see any obstacles, unless you take your eyes off the prize” Keep your eyes focused firmly on your vision and do not allow any obstacles or setbacks to distract you from your mission. As long as you keep your gaze firmly set on the prize or pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, no obstacle or setback can ever stop you. It really is ok to get knocked down and in many cases the fall is even good for you. The fall is often the opportunity to grow or learn something new. Yes setbacks and challenges are going to hurt and it is even ok to allow yourself some space to recover. The secret to greatness is to stop for as short a time as possible to lick your wounds, before you get back up and start moving forward again.

Break the cycle of “PLOM” poor, little, old, me, immediately and stop feeling sorry for yourself. You are not the only person, who encounters challenges, everyone experiences setbacks and challenges. The clock never stops ticking and no matter how large a challenge may seem, it will eventually pass and your life and success journey will continue. The greatness, which is available to you, is only limited by your ability to overcome challenges and to never give up. Adopt the adage of “I will, until” and nothing is beyond the realm of possibility for you.

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