Is it Possible or Even Desirable to Live a One Sided Positive Life Only?

According to the laws of physics it is impossible to find a one-sided positive magnet and no matter how thin you slice anything it will always has two sides. The same is true about our lives. You cannot expect to live a one sided positive life without any challenge or stress. I am sure you are all familiar with that computer animated post-apocalyptic movie, produced by Pixar animation studios, called WALL-E. In that movie the people lived aboard a space ship, without any challenge or stress at all. They were a miserable bunch of obese people, with no ambition and zero potential for growth or expansion. The same would be true for our lives if we removed all challenge, roadblocks and setbacks from our experience.

Challenges, roadblocks and temporary failures, are all opportunities for us to learn and grow. Thomas Edison learnt an inordinate amount when he was attempting to create the incandescent light bulb. He proved over 1200 different ways the process would not work and as a result of his experimenting and “FAILURE” he learnt a myriad of new reactions, which stood him in good stead, for the work he produced in the years that followed, after inventing the incandescent light bulb. All the difficulties you encounter on your path towards the success you desire, is all just a natural part of the success journey. In many ways these same challenges are the very catalyst that unlocks a new idea or concept, which may have remained hidden from you had you not encountered the challenge or setback in the first place.

Soon after I bought one of my factories in 2002, one of the manufactures of a really crucial part of the product went out of business. At first this seemed like an impossible obstacle to overcome, but on reflection My team and I realised that, with a little shuffling and by making a few strategic changes to our own production line, we could make the part ourselves. We made these changes and within about two weeks we were producing those parts ourselves at a massive cost saving to the business. Had that supplier not gone out of business, we would never have even considered the possibility of manufacturing that part in-house. One of the biggest threats to the business, turned into one of the best changes we were ever forced to make.

As you travel on any success journey, it is never “IF” you are going to encounter any challenges, but rather “WHEN” are you going to encounter challenges. Expect challenges, plan for challenges and when they arrive and they will. Do not allow them to overwhelm you. Keep a calm mind and allow yourself to explore all the options available to you. Don’t always choose the most obvious or easiest solution. It is sometimes the hardest or toughest solution, which will give the best results.

Action Idea: Next time you encounter a challenge use a technique I learnt from SCUBA diving to calm your mind and give you time to assess the situation. The advice is simple, STOP, BREATHE, THINK and only once you are certain you have a solution then ACT. Overwhelm or panic will not serve you in a dangerous situation whilst SCUBA diving and it will most certainly never serve you when you encounter one of those inevitable challenges, which will cross your path in the future.

When you encounter a challenge in the future and you are struggling to get rid of the feeling of overwhelm and associated stress this causes, try to rationalise the challenge by using the following checklist:

•Has anyone overcome a similar challenge in the past? If other people can overcome similar challenges then so can you.
•Remind yourself that challenges are inevitable and just part of the success journey.
•Remember that challenges are a necessary evil as they help you grow and expand.
•What is the lesson offered by this challenge and how will I be better off once I have solved or overcome it?
•Remind yourself that you have encountered and overcome many challenges in the past. This one will be no different.
•Give yourself time to think and never feel pressurised to come up with a solution straight away. It is often wise to allow yourself time to sleep on a crisis and the answers just seem to flood into your experience the next morning.
•Learn to turn the volume up on your intuition. The answer you are looking for is often hidden inside you, learn to listen and trust your inner voice.
•Do not shrink away from asking for help. A team is always better than an individual

Challenges are just part of the human experience, so the question is not will you encounter any challenges in the future, but rather how will you choose to respond to any challenges, which will inevitably cross your path in the future. Thomas Jefferson epitomised this when he said. "Nothing gives one person so much advantage over another as to remain always cool and unruffled under all circumstances."

http://www.andrewhorton.co.za