I’ve recently been dealing with a massive challenge of seeing my mother fight for her life while at the same time attempting to launch my never give up teachings. I have no doubt the timing of these two events has no coincidence.
I was asked the question the other day, which of my disasters do I think had the biggest effect on my life:
- Going Bankrupt
- Losing my Home
- Seeing my business crumble
- The Break-up of my marriage
- The loss of my sister
- My eye problem
- The cyst on my brain and the severe headaches it caused.
My answer was that they all had an impact. Each allowed me to take a new step forward to finding my life’s purpose.
Yesterday I spoke with 2 people completely lost and battered by the winds of life’s difficulties. They didn’t know what to do. I knew I could help them through the never give up philosophy.
They were telling me that they couldn’t bear any more, they’d had to deal with too much loss, illness, financial problems and an array of other problems and they felt broken.
Last week I introduced Lesson 1 of the Never Give Up Teachings – To Never Stop Trying. Today I bring you Lesson 2 – Learn from your Difficulties.
Difficulties are a fact of life. No one is going to refute that at times things can get incredibly challenging and you struggle to keep the fire within burning bright. It can knock the stuffing out of you. I’ve certainly had my fair share of difficulties. It happens to the best of us.
The goal here though is to never let giving up be one of your options. I believe that the biggest test of life is not how many times you get knocked down but how fast you can get up each time!
As we advance in life it becomes more and more difficult, but in fighting the difficulties the inmost strength of the heart is developed. Vincent Van Gogh
It is only when you encounter a setback, an obstacle, a difficulty or crisis that you demonstrate the kind of person you really are. It is only your actions in response to the adversities and setbacks you face that will define your life and your outcome. It’s how you deal with the things that happen to you.
“Circumstances do not make the man; they merely reveal him to himself.” Epictetus
Look at Thomas Edison. We would all be sitting in darkness or seeing because of candlelight if he had given up due to the difficulties and failures he encountered. But he learnt from each unsuccessful attempt until he enjoyed success and the light bulb was created.
“I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning to sail my ship.” Louise May Alcott
You have the ability to bounce back from adversity, to deal with all the hardships and difficulties that come your way. You really do.
You need to start seeing a problem as an opportunity in disguise and recognise that an answer awaits you in every difficulty. You see it is vital how you deal with your difficulties, the way you react to it. Life can either be full of problems or full of opportunities, it entirely depends on the way you look at it.
The most important thing about failing is what it teaches you. By analysing your own failures you will learn from them. Failure can establish feedback regarding what you’re doing wrong, so you can adjust your actions until you get them right.
By effectively learning from failure you will begin to see it as a step towards success. That’s going to ensure you can “do it better” the next time around.
“Do not fear mistakes. You will know failure. Continue to reach out.” – BenjaminFranklin
So in order to get yourself onto the road of success accept failure, embrace it and learn from it. Just know nothing can ever stop you bouncing back, well apart from you. You can’t allow failure to permanently derail you.
Step back and ask yourself, what did I learn from this? Finding the answer to this will help you find the way forward. The quicker you can leave behind the debilitating thoughts behind your failure the faster you take a positive step forward.
Make it a habit. See every problem as an opportunity. As you regularly start to look for opportunities in a problem, as you continue to think of finding opportunities you will begin to attract more opportunities.
Difficulties mastered are opportunities won. Winston Churchill
Many of you when faced with problems try to hide from them choosing to pretend that they do not exist. But this is the wrong thing to do. By confronting and attempting to solve the problem we personally grow and develop.
An emotional response to a difficulty or calamity is normal and only human. However, emotions have to be managed and channeled appropriately; else they can destroy us.
Dealing effectively with our difficulties and problems requires appropriate emotional control, acceptance of realities, charting out a course of action, and finally taking preventive measures to keep future problems at bay.
Those who succeed don’t let the negative emotion of anger, doubt, fear or anxiety interfere their ability to think of the solutions and take the next step.
Don’t dwell on what went wrong. Instead, focus on what to do next. Spend your energies on moving forward toward finding the answer. ~ Denis Waitley
You build on failure. You use it as a stepping stone. I have learnt much more from my failures than from my successes. Today I don’t see failure as a problem but as a guide to the right solution.
Don’t let your mistakes define your future. Your future is not been written yet. I believe there are still a lot of days for us to learn and grow before our time here is over.
You must take an active part in learning from your mistakes and fixing what you break.
Everything we are exposed to in life presents us with another valuable lesson. Never forget there is something to learn from everything that happens to you.
