It’s easy to feel positive when things are going your way, but do you feel overwhelmed as soon as challenges crop up?
It can be hard to keep ploughing onwards if you’re facing unexpected challenges, but keeping your perspective and focusing on your goal can help you to stay positive and learn from the situation you’re facing.
Developing strategies to cope with, and overcome, these challenges is all part of the rich journey of life.
If you’re feeling disempowered and finding it hard to cope with a challenge in your life, it’s worth putting in some preparation time and trying out a new response to adversity. It can help to have an action plan for dealing with stressful situations, so here are a few ways to keep smiling, even on those rainy days!
Try These 5 Powerful Tips When You’re Facing A Challenge.
1. Focus your attention.
The mind is a very powerful thing, and focusing on something is a good way to bring it into your life.
Focusing on the negative, or the obstacle in the way of your success, can enlarge the problem and stop you from moving forward.
Professional Racing Drivers are taught to focus on where they want their car to go. If they focus on the wall, they are much more likely to hit it, but by focusing on the goal, they have a far greater chance of success.
Create a picture in your mind’s eye of yourself overcoming your challenge. How will you feel? Focus on this feeling and it will become part of your vision, giving you the strength to make it happen.
2. Achieve what you can, where you are.
Facing a challenge head-on can be overwhelming. If what you’re facing seems insurmountable, it can be easy to see yourself as a failure and to give up without really trying to overcome the challenge.
Starting where you are, and making small movements in the right direction, can take you slowly towards your challenge until, little by little, you realise that you have overcome it. After all, mountains aren’t climbed all at once, but by a series of small steps!
3
. Believe in yourself.
A little self-belief can go a really long way.
Reaching your goal will only be possible if you truly believe you can do it, so if you’re flagging, take inspiration from those around you.
If someone is telling you that you can do it, trust them! Listen to them, allow their belief in you to bolster your self-confidence, and you’re well on the way to success.
Affirmations can be a very useful tool, so set your intentions high and don’t let yourself be dragged down by self-doubt!
4. Separate yourself from the challenge.
When you’re facing adversity, it can be hard to keep feeling positive about yourself; when things aren’t going our way, we often try to analyse the situation to see where we’re going wrong and end up blaming ourselves.
It can help to remind yourself that the obstacle ahead is not a reflection of who you are: you are not defined by this challenge.
This perspective can give you a helpful distance from the challenge, which can encourage you to move through it.
5. Don’t quit…even when you don’t succeed.
Challenges are, by their very nature, difficult to overcome. It wouldn’t be a challenge if it wasn’t tough!
Some days, we might feel that we’ll never accomplish the challenge ahead of us, and it may seem easier to give up and hide under the covers. But even if it takes longer than we first thought, we should never allow ourselves to quit.
Progress means we’re getting somewhere, even if it’s just a little at a time. Moving forward, even very slowly, means you’ve achieved something – you’re better off than you were before.
So, next time you’re facing a challenge, remember that a positive approach can really turn things around for you and make success much more likely.
Take time out to focus, picture yourself achieving your goal, and believe that you can do it. Don’t give up: you can do anything if you truly believe that you can.
Hilary Neiman is the author of, Things Fall Apart.
She works as a crisis strategist at www.secondyu.com, where she helps empower others to overcome obstacles in their lives.
