“Setbacks are given to ordinary people to make them extraordinary.”
Life will beat you down. Period.
Everybody who wants more out of life will happen to run into roadblocks and setbacks. There will be people around you who will doubt you and find the stuff you set out to achieve stupid and useless. There will be people who will try to stop you, because they have not the same vision as you have. They do not see it as clearly as you do. Maybe they just want to hold you back because they are scared, because if they see you succeed, they would have to face the fact, that THEY as well could achieve their biggest and wildest dreams and this would conflict with their reality too much.
This does not mean that the people around you are “evil” and do not want your best, but they are heavily influenced by years of social conditioning. These people are not used to think outside the box. Don’t let this be you! Learn to see challenges as what they really are: opportunities to shine!
Think about what an amazing story you can tell when you tell somebody later about your life and all the obstacles you have overcome and all the great goals you have achieved! Wouldn’t it be boring otherwise? Furthermore think about all the benefits to your personality, think about the person that you become by going through all the stress and pain. You simply grow stronger with everything you achieve in life. Every time something beats you down, you rise again stronger, like a phoenix from the ashes.
So how can you find the strength to carry on after so many setbacks? How can you bring up the energy to keep moving forward? What if you feel tired of all the non-sense, and just want it to stop? What if you see no end to the struggle and pain? What shall you do when you believe that it is too hard?
You Have No Other Options Other Than Moving Forward
Whenever you doubt yourself and begin to question the outcome of the path you have taken, always make yourself conscious that you have NO OTHER OPTIONS! There is no other way other than your current. You are standing against the wall and there is no turning back.
Think about it for a moment: what are your alternatives? Going back to your old and normal routines? Going back to your old and casual job, just because the new business or project is just “too difficult”? I can tell you, you have no options! You already know what the old options are, you already know where they will lead you and you already know that you do not want your life to continue like that! You already know all this, or else you would have never started doing something differently in the first place. So what you have to do after each “setback”, in each challenging situation and in every moment of immense pain and doubt, is reinforce your belief in yourself and build back up the trust in you and your abilities.
You have to be the first person that believes you that you can do it, or else you will have no chance in protecting your ideas and dreams against all the other external influences. Protect it like it is the most important thing you have in the world (because it is) and nothing can stop you from achieving it. You will only “lose” when you stop, and quitting is not an option!
Good luck!
(The quote at the top is from the book The Aladdin Factor
by Jack Canfield, which really resonated with me right now. I just finished reading it and if you want to learn more about the importance of asking for what you want out of life, this is the book that you should definitely check out!)
by Jack Canfield, which really resonated with me right now. I just finished reading it and if you want to learn more about the importance of asking for what you want out of life, this is the book that you should definitely check out!)
