Challenges are a part of life. More importantly, they are a part of your journey toward success. Indeed, even the world’s most successful individuals have had to face down seemingly insurmountable challenges.
The difference is that these people have turned challenges, rejections, and failures into opportunities. Instead of giving up, they faced their challenges head-on and created new directions and established new goals. It seems like a lofty objective, but it is, in fact, achievable. Here are a few ways to approach it:
Change Your Perspective
If you have a mentor or a holistic career coach, they will tell you that overcoming challenges is usually a matter of perspective. Ask someone you trust for help. A fresh set of eyes could just be the advice you need to realise new ways of dealing with a problem.
At the same time, changing your perspective also means changing the way you see your own ideas. We sometimes fall into the trap of thinking that our ideas are nothing but right, good, or effective. This leads us to doing the same things over and over again without realising that they aren’t really being fruitful. When this happens, stop and think about how you look at your ideas. Remove those rose-coloured glasses and dive deep into the details. Perhaps you can make adjustments and take your ideas into another direction.
Reframe the Challenge
There are times when you look at a huge challenge and immediately think that it’s impossible to overcome. The problem is that if the first thought in your brain is “I can’t,” then it’s likely that you really can’t do it. Do away with this mentality. Instead of “I can’t,” think “I can if…”.
Reframing the challenge or problem this way gives you more control over it. That simple change helps your mind accept that the challenge can be solved when you change the conditions. That “if” means you can try a lot of things or take different paths to achieve your goal.
Be Curious About the Challenge Itself
The thing about challenges is that, most of the time, we immediately want to jump into the endgame. That is, we’re already thinking about the desired outcome of conquering the challenge. This is not inherently wrong. However, it also prevents you from exploring different avenues of approach.
Instead of thinking about immediate solutions, think of the challenge itself. Be curious about its origins. Explore the situations that led to it. Embrace the challenge, so to speak. Doing so can help you develop more creative solutions.
Embrace the Challenges and Failures
When you’ve already invested in a solution for a challenge or problem, it can be hard to accept failure. However, sometimes it’s the only way to move forward. Accept the fact that you will fail or have failed, then, study and apply the lessons you’ve learned. Reflect and innovate. Your efforts may not initially yield the desired results but remember that failure has positive outcomes too. Embrace your failures and learn from them.
Finally, be open to the fact that the end goal you started with might not be right for you. This will help you adapt and not be “hung up” on your failures. Instead, you’ll be more determined to establish new goals and work toward achieving those.
Take It One Step at a Time
Overcoming challenges is a step-by-step process. You can’t skip over some of the steps simply because you’re eager to put the problem behind you. In addition, there may be certain challenges where you have to change directions in the middle of solving it.
These simply means that you have to be adaptable. You should also condition yourself to face challenges one step at a time. Doing this prevents you from feeling overwhelmed. It can also help you be more methodical in your approach, allowing you to see more of the avenues that you can explore if one way doesn’t work. Finally, facing challenges one step at a time can help remove that feeling of pressure that you have to overcome them as quickly as possible.
Be Honest
Being honest with yourself can help you transform challenges into new opportunities. Accept how you’re feeling, even if it’s something less than optimistic. This will help you find the right path and the best solutions. After all, you can’t answer a question the right way if you don’t understand it properly.
What’s more, being honest with yourself also makes you more open to accepting help from others. In turn, this can lead you to discover unique ways to handle the challenge and even end up achieving more.
Last but not the least, determination is a huge part of the equation. If you are determined to succeed and if you are determined to turn your challenges into wellsprings of opportunity, then nothing can hold you back.
If you would like to learn how to tap into the part of yourself that knows how to lead your through the challenges, then you can book a 15 min chat to see how I can help you do that!
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