“If only the whole world could see the world differently”

It would be easy to say things like this if you had never faced challenge. If you had never had a long uphill climb. If you had never faced the seemingly impossible, how easy to tell other people that there was no such thing as impossible.

Having faced many ‘impossible’ challenges personally and in business. I can recount stories of failure from things that I could say I had little influence over to things where I made a bad decision. I have been on the ropes, backed into the corner and faced situations that some would say had no hope.

I have felt lost, stuck, scared and anxious.

I found that no situation you find yourself in has to be the way it first appears. By changing our own perception, we are a long way to changing things. I also realised that in that moment, the question of how you got there doesn’t help. There is a time for debriefing how you got there, in order to save it happening again, but that’s not when you need all your energy to move forward.

The only thing you should spend energy on is working out what you need to know, to move from your current situation, to the situation you want to be in. It will always be a list of things you need to learn or do. This is where all of your energy is needed.

I discovered that in that moment, it is easier to give in. Even now, I know that for every challenge I face, it is harder to break through, than it is to give in at that point in time. But giving in leads to long term pain whereas putting in the effort to change your situation is the only way to move forward.

More than anything, how we respond to the challenges we face, says a lot about the who we are. About our own values and more.

For me, that leaves no option but to continue to acknowledge the roadblocks, and then remove them. I have learnt to relish the challenge and to find massive satisfaction in helping others to do the same. I do this in my own organisations (below) and for organisations I get to work with.