Tough is ok

When you set out to improve something about your life, you are usually filled with optimism and hope.  You dream about success and what it will feel like to have reached your goal.

But as soon as you start out, you will likely hit some roadblocks.  Usually our dreams require us to work hard and overcome adversity in order to realize our vision. 

Those who see tough as something that they don’t like tend to stop here and look for something else.  They don’t treat tough as another teacher, another lesson to learn in order to gain the wisdom necessary to truly succeed.

In, What Do You Want To Create Today? author Dr. Bob Tobin says, “You have to work at creating something you want to create.  If a situation is tough, you bounce back, you keep at it.  There are times when you will need to reach out to others for help.  There are times when it’s not possible to bounce back quickly, but when you keep on going in the direction of your dreams, you can persevere.”

I have found, personally, that success often comes from doing something for long enough.  Make enough progress, even if you are only taking small steps in the right direction, and you will eventually accomplish something great. 

Because we have to do it for long enough, and because it will be tough at times, the systems and habits approach to improvement focuses on starting small and adjusting processes and routines.  Over time these start to become ingrained, automated responses that form the structure for future success. 

Then we leverage the most valuable aspect, time.  We know it will take time so we create the framework to use this for our advantage instead of working against us.

This can start to build a mindset that tough isn’t a bad thing.  Tough is necessary to learn and grow and we just have to find ways to keep going, keep stretching ourselves, and keep pushing towards tough instead of away from it. 

The benefits of doing this are great.  You start to build confidence and future challenges change and morph into new areas, but don’t cripple you at first sight.  You learn to become malleable and adjust with new challenges, always growing wiser and stronger through the process. 

So the next time you face a tough situation, calmly acknowledge the difficulty and what it will take to overcome, but also realize that this may just be the next step in a great journey. 

The more tough steps you take, the better equipped you will be and the more open you will be to new opportunities that could present more success and happiness that ever dreamed.