Seth Saunders Leadership, Learning

Overcoming Obstacles

Overcoming Obstacles | Mental Toughness Boot Camp

How do you see obstacles in your life? Do they cause anxiety, depression, frustration, and sadness? If you answered to any of those feelings, congratulations, your human. Now, how do you handle obstacles in your life? I try to run from them, I don’t address them hoping the just go away, I freeze, I find ways to overcome them, I reach out to others to help me, I just give up? Again, if you answered yes to any or all of these, congratulations, you are human.

I have always been a huge Michael Jordan fan and he stated the following:

“Obstacles don’t have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.”

I love how he simply states that obstacles don’t have to stop you. The key is to try and understand how you can overcome the obstacles you will encounter. Here are some thoughts/ideas on you can overcome obstacles:

Acknowledge the obstacle: It is critical that when you encounter an obstacle in your life to acknowledge the obstacle. To to do this you must take a look at how it came into your life, what was the circumstance, what does it involved and who does it involve. Being able to understand these items will give you a feeling of control of the situation. The sooner you can feel like you are in control of the situation, the quicker you can start to think about ways to overcome the obstacle.

Eliminate the noise: If you think about it, when obstacles come in your life one of the main reason for the feelings I mentioned at the beginning of this post enter your life is because you cannot focus on what is happening. This is usually because of the noise that is taking place in your life. In order to address what is going on, you must eliminate the noise. This may be removing yourself from a situation, taking a break from what you are doing to give yourself time to think, doing some type of meditation, whatever works for you to eliminate the noise.

Focus on what you can control: There is no doubt that we all like to be in control. This is especially important when we encounter obstacles. Being in control allows for better clarity of what needs to be done. When you focus on things you can’t control, you only increase your feelings of frustration and this can often lead to feelings of giving up. There will be times when you feel like you cannot control anything but at the end of the day, you can control how you feel. And as is often said, when you control how you feel, you can control how you act. I have often found writing things down helps me understand what I can and cannot control when dealing with an obstacle.

What Is a Growth Mindset? And How Do I Develop It?

Mindset is key: You may or may not have heard about the concept of Growth Mindset vs Fixed Mindset. Simply put, if you have a Growth Mindset, you embrace challenges and persist in the face of obstacles while on the other hand, if you have a Fixed Mindset, you avoid challenges give up easily when faced with obstacles. As you can quickly see, how you think will impact every aspect of how you act. Thus, it is imperative to have a growth mindset in order to effectively overcome obstacles.

Notice that no where did I say overcoming obstacles in your life is easy, the truth is, its not. However, when you develop what works for you, overcoming obstacles becomes an empowering part of your life. You will find ways to learn more about who you are and what you value in your life. Remember this, developing ways to overcome obstacles is a process. It will not happen overnight.

The fact that you have read this block post means you believe in yourself and want to make good things happen so let me simply say, you’ve got this, you are amazing and there is truly no obstacle you cannot overcome.

Be A Hero

Seth Saunders Inspirational, Leadership, Learning, Value

A Year In Review

I have to apologize right upfront, I am not taking a look back at 2020 but rather want to talk about 2021.

As you think about the year ahead, what does it look like? What are you excited for? What are planning on accomplishing? What milestones will you celebrate?

In other words, when you take look back at 2021, what will you “Year In Review” look like? Just so we are clear, you are the one that will control what happens. Sure, there will be challenges, speed bumps and even set backs, but the focus on your goals and how you respond will determine your success.

I was able to gain incredible insights from the book “Essentialism” by author Greg McKeown. He states, “Essentialism is not about how get more things done; it’s about how to get the right things done…it is about making the wisest possible investment of your time and energy in order to operate at our highest point of contribution by doing only what is essential.”

The ability to focus on what is essential is something I have struggled with but the times I do, my success increases exponentially. When I commit to using my energy to accomplish those items that are of most important, I notice my energy levels actually increase, not decrease because of the effort it took.

What are the essential actions you must take today, tomorrow, next week, next month to ensure you accomplish what you want to in 2021? How can you decide what are the essential actions or priorities?

Here is what McKeown shares:

1- Explore and Evaluate

2- Eliminate

3- Execute

Each of these items are pretty self-explanatory but if you want to know more of the specifics I suggest you check out McKeown’s book.

I can tell you that each step takes time to ensure you don’t short change yourself. You want to be honest with yourself so you get dialed into what are those most essential things you need to do. I love this takeaway McKeown shares. “If you don’t prioritize your life, someone else will.”

So I take us back to where I started, what is your 2021 Year In Review going to look like? What are the most essential actions you need to take that will guarantee your success?

This can be an awesome year if you want it to be. It comes down to your motivation and desire to focus what is most essential.

You’ve Got This.

Seth Saunders Facts, Inspirational, Learning, Value

It’s Time To Replace

When someone has a really bad hip, they go and have a hip replacement surgery. When a lightbulb goes out, we get a new one and replace it. When a athlete gets hurt, the coach puts in a replacement. So why would I be sharing these examples? The reason is, in every one of these examples, the importance of the replacement is so forward movement is not stopped. Even if there is a disruption, once the replacement is put in,  forward progress continues. Replace-Words-Featured-670x335

With all the is going on right now words are having a greater impact than ever before. Many people are living in panic, fear, crisis and greed. These feelings are creating an increase in anxiety, depression and hopelessness. Believe me, I have felt these over the past couple of weeks. However, as I have thought about this and watched stories of people doing good, I have tried to refocus my thoughts to ones of positivity. What I have done is replaced key words which has helped me change my thoughts and actions. Here is what I have been focused on:

Replace the word panic with patience. As we develop more patience with all that is going on we will have more clarity and peace of mind. We will also be more mentally prepared to help others.

Replace the word fear with faith. It does not matter if one has a religion or set of beliefs but everyone can have faith. That faith should can create feelings of hope which leads to positive actions and thus greater peace.

Replace the word crisis with comfort. The truth is, we have reason to be concerned about the world we live in right now but being able to feel comfort can change our entire outlook. Comfort comes when we listen to the professionals and do our part to be a good global citizen. Comfort also comes from an increase in faith.

Replace greed with gratitude. We can see how people are reacting by literally hoarding key essential items from stores without even a second thought about others. To put it bluntly, that is straight up greed. Can you image living with gratitude and how that can impact greed? There is no shortage of research that shows the power of living with gratitude. The more gratitude we can show to others, the better we feel. Gratitude brings peace and comfort. You cannot underestimate the power of gratitude. Take time write hand written notes to others, send a text to someone you have been thinking about, email those who are serving on the front lines.

Your ability to replace these and potentially other words you might be using to describe the current situation will bring a brighter outlook on your future. This is a time for each of us to develop in ways we may not have ever thought about before. We deserve it to both ourselves and the world to strive each day to be the best we can. Let us be know as a people who rose to the occasion. When we do this our anxiety, depression and loneliness will be more manageable. I love this quote:

Once-you-replace-negative-thoughts-with-positive-ones-youll-start-having-positive-results-1060x1060

Time to be a hero!

Seth

PS. Wash your hands, keep your distance, do your part