Stepping Out in Times of Adversity

Are you ready to move past your struggles and feeling stuck, and joyfully leap into accomplishing your BIGGEST goals with ease, joy and success?
Are you someone who knows you are bright, creative and self-aware but you have been too busy to be as in touch with your true self as you would like?
Do you feel called to create change and inspiration in the world but are not quite sure how to get your plan off the ground (if you even have one...)?
If one or all of these statements ring true for you, then maybe it is time for you to change some of your personal rules for success. You see if you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got! Perhaps now is the perfect time for you to leverage up your personal performance, not merely by a small incremental step. It is time for you to completely change the rules of your personal plan.
You see, many of us ordinarily rely on what is obvious. We stay with the same routines, the same people and even the same habits and behaviors that seemed to have worked okay for us in the past. It is an approach that works very well and keeps us safe. We become very attached to what we know will bring us steady and predictable results. There is no doubt it enables us some degree of success.
In times of challenge and adversity, this is where many of us go. We choose the patterns of behaviors which minimize our risk. We hunker down and wait until the storm has passed before we dare to even consider a different route. We take the well worn road, our favorite approach, which actually means we just end up getting better and better at doing things in that particular way. We become over-dependent on the strategies and tactics we know and resist the opportunities to try something new because they feel clumsy, unknown and, inevitably, involve more risk. Many of us continue working in this way even when the results are screaming that life has moved on and a different way would bring more effective results.
So how can we change this and learn to take the golden opportunity which is available when times get tough?
If you want to accelerate your rate of achievement rapidly, then you must actively search out and employ new behaviors.
Get uncomfortable
So let’s get real for a moment - this is not going to feel easy, especially at first. If you are doing something differently you will be stepping outside of your comfort zone. Prepare yourself for a wild ride. You are going to encounter different things, some of which may prove to be obstacles that block your way. If you are like most of us, your normal reaction will be to hang on tightly, just as you would on the fastest roller coaster ride at the fairground. My advice is don’t. I am sure to some of you that may feel counterproductive; it is certainly different. You are going to have to learn to let go. High performance is achieved through release. If you’re feeling a little uneasy then you are at your learning edge - which means you are growing and developing, becoming more. So get used to this feeling. If you want to be exceptional, you need to keep evolving. It’s time for you to leap off the ledge and grow your wings on the way down.
Stop trying harder
Sooner or later you are going to reach the point where you can’t try any harder. Your enthusiasm will wane and your physical and mental energy will become stretched to its limits. You will reach the point where trying harder and harder starts producing less and less. Time to....
Do something different
Be brave. Abandon the status quo. Look for a paradoxical move. Brainstorm. Try being illogical. Stop swimming upstream and move into flow. Trust your intuitive energy. Create some space where you can liberate your thinking to begin to try on the idea of doing something else. Know that there is a way to achieve greater outputs with less effort - you merely have to find it. Focus on possibilities. Move beyond your mental boundaries (again that means letting go of your artificial limiting beliefs). This is not about common sense, sensible ways forward - this is about difference which will stand you apart from the crowd. Get you noticed.
So how are you feeling? What is coming up when you hear these radical ideas to move you forward in times of adversity? Really listen to your inner voice...is it your fears speaking? Or is it your true self? What is it that you need to surrender to enable you to make a significant shift? Are you getting in your own way? How?