Personal Challenges

We continually hear people making statements like "I wish my job was not so stressful." Maybe we all have thought we would enjoy coming home and not being exhausted from the day. I believe at heart we all desire a challenge. We welcome the stress that makes us better, stronger, and more competent. Let's discuss this thought.

Every great accomplishment is born against a challenge. Every athlete has paid the price to be able to handle a challenge. Every test taken in school was a challenge offered by the education system to strengthen your decision-making abilities.

Life has been giving us challenges since the day we were born. Many call challenges by different names, some are called hardships, unfair, overextended, etc. The reality is this. These are all excuses names for challenges that one does not want to accept, usually due to the fact that the individual created the challenge through poor decision making.  People become detached, lazy, and unmotivated when challenges are removed from their life.

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All successful individuals will agree with this without challenge one becomes complacent. We were created to be challenged. We should continually be challenged mentally, physically, and spiritually.

Any challenge we are faced with is handled based specifically on our belief system.  Do we believe we can conquer the challenge? Do we believe the challenge is realistic? Does the challenge line up with our belief system? Challenges and beliefs go hand in hand.

I deal with salesmen on a daily basis. I watch this belief and challenge paradigm every single day.

The salesman's success is directly based on his or her belief that the opportunity outweighs the possibility of failure. The results they produce are most often based on their belief in the outcome already played out in their imagination. They have decided on the results before they have met the challenge. The aspect of the challenge and consequential results have been played out before the actual event ever unfolds dictating their forthcoming actions.

When I was playing H.S. basketball, the coach would have us lay on our backs and shoot imaginary free throws with imaginary basketballs. Over a period of time, our percentage of actual free throws would increase. Oh, by the way, we had to hit all the imaginary free throws. If you missed one you had to run imaginary laps! I never missed a shot. The coach realized that if we had prepared and achieved success in our minds against a certain future challenge the greater the chance for success would be. The point is belief plays a great role in facing and overcoming challenges.

What would be the opposite of being challenged? Comfortable? Settled? Complacent? You are not sure? I am sure of this. Something inside humanity needs to be challenged. We have a burning desire to know certain things about ourselves. We want to know what we are capable of. We need to know what we are capable of. This warrior voice in our head continually cries out for a challenge, this is why we get sweaty palms, adrenaline pumping through our body, super focused, etc. We want, we need this in our life.

If we are void of challenge, I have witnessed first hand just a few reactions to this. A vicarious challenge through an athlete or even our own children can play a key role in the development of how we handle day-to-day situations. I have witnessed an imaginary attachment to an action hero who faces new, weekly challenges through the television we can be a part of. What happens when the show ends? The worst reaction, in my opinion, is a slide into a state of depression to lose the sense of excitement to face each day. One becomes complacent in every aspect of life when faced with no new and exciting challenges.

How do we come to this place in life? This place with no challenges we created?  We allow it! We will let others steal it from us! No matter the reason we allowed it to happen. We allowed life to become so safe there was no excitement brought about by challenges. You must find something that challenges you, something that makes you better. Something that helps you to feel value.  Without this your life you will merely exist. A decision must be made to find this career, hobby, exercise, or goal. What gets your blood pumping when you think about it? That is it, whatever that is, that is it! Start practicing in your mind today, see yourself attacking and winning this challenge. If it is a career you have always desired to have started making a plan to face the challenge. If it is a hobby you have been meaning to start, do it! Do not wait we need these challenges.

I love to read. The type of books I enjoy reading differs somewhat from most. The books I usually read view life from the opposite end of the spectrum of my own personal views. Why do I read these books? They challenge my thought process and views. They force me to look through another's eyes. This can be very challenging and in some ways even painful. I believe those who push away challenges are usually afraid of the pain, the thought that the challenge might force them to approach life from a new angle. Remember what I said people as a whole do not enjoy change they view it as painful. We must seek out new challenges if we desire mental, spiritual, and physical growth. We have literally been facing challenges since birth, challenges are meant to be a part of human experience. Those who have excelled in most cases have faced numerous challenges, they have also set many of these challenges up for themselves. A goal is essentially a challenge, setting a date, and what the expectation of accomplishment is.  I would consider a challenge beneficial to all.

When an individual sets up a goal or challenge for themselves should that individual know what a win-or-lose looks like? Should they not have a date in which the objective should be accomplished? Shouldn't accountability partners be identified and acknowledged as to keep one honest? Should one not use a pen and page to create a visual chart of the target? The answer to all the questions above is yes!

A challenge will tell an individual more about themselves than anything else in life. Am I a quitter? How much adversity can I take? How badly do I want this? What is my breaking point? Where does my loyalty end? Challenge can ask us hundreds of questions and forces us to answer honestly.  Challenges end the talk and make one walk the walk. Create challenges for yourself, it will cause you to see who you really are.