What ever you want to create comes at a price. It is not a price that typically gets talked about but there is always a price. A consequence for going for what you want. Ask any successful business person what it took to become successful and they will typically say the word; sacrifice. The story goes that Mozart developed deformities in his hands due to the sheer volume of practice he did in pursuit of excellence.
In the pursuit of creation comes adversity. No matter how prepared you attempt to be, life throws curveballs that you have to overcome or get taken out. Early in my business, I thought I had a marketing strategy that would bring me in enough clients for me to quit my day job. It had worked for another person I knew so thought it was a dead cert. I was full of excitement because it meant I could leave the job I hated (& my brain cells hated) with a passion.
I took the leap & left.
The landing was not a soft one.
The marketing strategy produced zero clients. It was one of those ‘oh F@ck moments’.
The one question we all need to ask..
It was at this moment I had to ask myself a question that every creative, business person, or just anyone that has a goal that extends beyond ‘I want to watch the complete box set of The Mentalist in one go’ and that is;
‘Am I prepared to go through what is necessary in order to get what I want?’
It’s not just resources you need..
The survival expert Laurence Gonzales noted there have been cases where missing people have been found dead even though they had everything they needed in order to survive. He continued that there have been other cases where people have survived with no resources and having been missing for longer than experts thought possible. I think that is a good metaphor for the attitude in anything you pursue. Even if you have all the resources you need to succeed; money, location, opportunities, inevitably there will be moments where setbacks occur. When they happen it is having that mental resilience that will keep you going.
How to build resilience..
So what can you do to ensure freak outs are lessened and resilience flows:
- Prepare as best you can can – On a plane you count how many rows to the exit, on an expedition you ensure you have enough fluids. With your endeavour you can focus on what you CAN control; your state.
- Delay Decision – very few situations require an immediate decision on how to respond. Take some time to come to a solution that you are less likely to regret in the future.
- Ritual of meditation – Resilience has been found to be present in individuals with high levels of activation in the pre frontal cortex. This area of the brain, amongst other responsibilities regulates emotion. Meditation has shown to produce increase pre frontal activity so spending 10 minutes daily doing a spot of meditation would be 10 minutes worth spending.
Now your turn! What experience has caused you to use your resilience?