Why would you want to give up?
There is a mindset that I call: “Throw Me To The Wolves!” It speaks to the kind of tenacity and dedication to purpose that gives you titanium-built fortitude. Resilience is an important strength to have when you are developing that kind of mindset. We are going to explore 5 ways to be more resilient.
If you are committed to your goals and objectives and serious about achieving success then, being resilient is a behaviour that you want to always have readily available. Life is not easy and it can give you some knocks that will take you to the edge of giving up.
Being resilient will help you to pull away quickly from those emotions and reposition yourself to move forward confidently.
1. Feel The Pain And Do It Anyway
Perseverence does not come easy. Giving up feels much easier to do. Very often I observe people putting in tremendous effort to invest in an idea, relationship or themselves and then give up just as they are about to hit the tipping point. They lack the courage to push through to the end and walk away from success that someone else comes along and quickly lifts off the table.
Developing yourself emotionally is no different from building body strength. You start with light weights and add on as you reach your comfort level. This helps you to stretch yourself and become stronger. It requires daily habits which, if done consistently, will boost your self-confidence, image and competence.
Our world today is an instant one – instant coffee, instant gratification, instant love, instant success. We want everything now and few of us are willing to invest the hard work and sacrifices that are necessary to achieve.
Becoming a victim to this mindset and these behaviours creates weakness, causing many to fall by the wayside when the going gets tough.
When you persevere, you know that difficulties and delays will arise. You keep moving forward, inspite of the challenges, embracing them and taking time to learn from them. That learning goes into your tool bag for quick reference later on and gives you added credibility, admiration and self-worth. 385
2. Have Single-Minded Desire
Sometimes, you just don’t want something bad enough to push through and perserve to the end. It’s that simple. Your “why” is not compelling enough to hold you to what you SAY you want to achieve.
Your desire must be intense and well-anchored within you. It is there that it will be protected from the erosion around you and nurtured to grow and strengthen.
There are too many distractions around us that we allow to impact our goals and desires. Competition, wanting what others have, consumerism, uncertainty. These things can be destructive and cause you to lose faith in yourself and your desires.
It is not just about saying that you desire something. That desire has to burn inside you like a fire and feed your thoughts and your actions. You are not satisfied until you have achieved what you set out to do.
When your desire is single-minded, you become more focused. As you focus more the details become clearer much like looking through a camera lenses. Whatever you place your eyes on long enough is what will come into clear focus. 566
3. Accept Your Choices
I have often reflected on the outcomes in my life that did not go as well as I intended them to. When I examine them, I realise that the outcome was tied to poor or inappropriate choices that I made. It took a long time for me to admit that to myself but, when I did, things started to make much more sense.
Your life is the sum total of the choices that you have made. Repeat that. My life is the sum total of the choices that I have made. It is not easy to hear, is it?
When something bad happens to us or when things do not work out the way we want them to, our usual first reaction is to blame – something or someone. But, if you slow down and spend some time analysing how you got to that that point, you wil realise that it was the choices you made that got you there.
Once you accept your choices and take responsibility for making them, you are hold yourself accountable for making changes to improve your life. This is what it means to be mature. You own your life and control what you can to make it better and achieve what you want to. 780
4. Repeat Acts Of Courage
When we talk about courage, we tend to think of grand things like Mahatma Ghandi standing up to the British or Nelson Mandela fighting for freedom in South Africa. Courage though, can be found in the little everyday things that we do.
As a parent, you may be teaching your child to have courage without even knowing it.
When my daughter was only 4 years old, I bought her her first hoola hoop. I spent many afternoons trying to teach her how to hoola hoop but instead she would give up, throw the hoola hoop aside and start to cry.
She has a very competitive spirit and, as an only-child, thrives on undivided attention. I decided to use those traits and coached her into performing a hoola hoop dance for a family gathering. The thought of the recognition and admiration, even at 4 years old, pushed her to become unrelenting with her hoola hoop practice.
With 3 days of consistent practice, she aced it! Her performance won her huge accolades and she has gone on to win medals for her hoola hooping. Today she shares that story with her friends and anyone who would listen to teach them why they should never quit.
Her lesson is simple: “If you quit, you will never succeed.”
She is 10 years old now and I see her demonstrate huge amounts of courage, pushing the envelope by doing things such as paragliding, stilt walking, dancing on international stages and hiking. 1022
5. Believe That You Can
Faith is the evidence of things not seen and what you need to have to carry yourself through the unkown. Sometimes you may face what appears to be an impossible objective but if your belief in yourself and your ability are strong enough, you will find away.
A good example of that can be found in the Flim Lab’s Annual 72-Hour Shoot Out.
What would you do if you were given a set of instructions to make a video that was required to:
- Be 5 minutes in length
- be about ‘Going Viral’
- Have toilet paper within the video
- Have a storyline made sense
- Be completed within 72 hours
As impossible a challenge as that may seem to you, one of the entrants described it simply as a test of belief and perseverance.
What do you think about the video? What would you have done?
Believing that you can is the genesis of creativity and action. Without it, you efforts will fall on barren ground – at best. 1195
If You Quit, You Will Never Taste Success
There is no easy way to say that.
Being resilient means never quitting, never giving up and never doubting that you have the ability to succeed. It means that you have the grit and courage to push forward, working through your challenges and obstacles and persevering until you reach your goals.
It means rising to even better and higher outcomes, even if you fall.
The good news is that you have the power to develop all of these behaviours and strengthen your abilities. It does mena making some changes but these can begin by taking small steps. As your confedence and sens of accomlishment grow, you can walk taller, stronger and faster.
Do you want to learn how to become more resilient?
Leave a Comment below and let us know your thoughts on emotional resilience, what resonated with this article or, how we may be able to support your growth and development.
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