FINDING YOUR GOLD

Have you ever seen the cartoon above?

This man gets started and is eagerly picking away at the dirt to find his fortune. Hard work, dedication, perseverance are his characteristics. He continues, putting in long hours away from his family, taking on the bumps and bruises of life, reaching a breaking point. Do I continue? Why is this so hard? Maybe I am in the wrong area.

Unfortunately for our character in this scenario - he gives up. Turning around and walking back down his tunnel - feeling completely defeated. What is even more unfortunate? He was one strike away from achieving his life long dream!

How many of us struggle with this same dilemma? How many of us have put in so much hard work - have seen some successes and have been beaten down by this cruel world? Those set backs either make us or break us. What are those set backs?

Adversity.

How you respond to adversity will dictate your success. Are you going to give up? Or are you going to push through it? If you decide to push through it, how do you beat it? You win with perseverance. Here are a couple ways to encourage yourself to defeat adversity.

Remember who you are. We can get lost in the adversity sometimes and start doing things that are not true to ourselves. When you start to do things out of the ordinary character, it comes off as desperate. You're in a slump - you start throwing out discounts. Your business is failing, you cut the marketing efforts. Remembering who you are and not making rash decisions will help you see a clearer picture in dealing with the adversity.

Believe in yourself! When you face adversity, what do you start doing? Doubting yourself. Yuck! Who likes that feeling? Its the normal thing to do. We are so hard on ourselves day in and day out, the last thing you need to do with adversity is look in the mirror in disgust. Sure you could be to blame for some things along the way, but ultimately, when its all said and done - the one thing you consistently have is yourself. Believe in yourself to pull through. Dig deep! You got this far, like the guy in the picture, take one more swing - if that doesnt do it - take another one! At least if you keep going and it continues to fail, you can look back and say at least I gave 110%.

For me, I hate feeling defeated.

I REALLY hate feeling the guilt of giving up. It looks to be the easy way out - but its not a characteristic I am choosing to fall to.