How Do You Handle Life's Roadblocks? When you are stopped while trying to accomplish something, how do you respond? How do you handle the frustration?
For example, you want to be a professional piano player. You take piano lessons, practice for two hours every day and learn as many songs as possible. You play at a friend's wedding and feel ignored. You audition to play at your church services, but do not get selected. Your mother even says, "Maybe you should take up water colors." What do you do?
Maybe you cry and feel sorry for yourself. "Boo-hoo! I feel so bad!"
Perhaps you blame others. "My teachers were so bad that I'll never succeed."
Or maybe you blame yourself. "I'm such an idiot! Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!"
Many people like to drown their sorrows. "To heck with it! I'm getting drunk."
Some prefer depression or apathy. "Life isn't worth living. I'm going to watch TV all day."
Finding excuses is popular. "My fingers were sore." "The music is too old." "People just don't appreciate fine piano playing."
And of course, many people just give up. "I'm not going to play the stupid piano. In fact, piano players are losers."
How do you handle life's roadblocks? "Intention is like a landmark."
"If you were traveling through unfamiliar country toward a snow-capped mountain, you would find that you sometimes took a wrong turn, but as long as you could see the mountain, you would make progress toward it. Sometimes obstacles would get in your way. Sometimes they would even hide the mountain from you. But there is one thing that would not happen. You would not forget to look for the mountain. You would know that you could not reach the mountain by forgetting its existence. You would laugh at the idea of forgetting to look for the mountain." -- L. Ron Hubbard
For example, despite the obstacles, you would not lose sight of your goal to be a piano player. You would ignore the losses and stay focused on the goal. "I will become a fabulous pianist! I'm going to take 200 lessons and practice for four hours a day until I make it."
Luckily, using intention is not difficult. Constantly looking for the mountain is easy. You just look! Your feet then follow your eyes.
As another example, you own a restaurant and have the goal of $10,000 profit per month. You figure out you will need 200 happy, satisfied customers per day to reach your goal. You keep this mountain in mind at all times.
One day, your chef calls and says, "I got a better job in New York and I'm leaving today. Good luck to you."
You realize you'll be cooking a lot of food today and feel like closing the doors and going to a movie instead. Yet you look for your mountain. You see 200 happy customers. You intend to reach the goal.
You suddenly remember your mother is a great cook. She has been offering to help out, so you ask her to take over the kitchen for a few days. She agrees and doesn't even want any pay!
You run an ad and hire a new chef by the weekend. You continue hiking up the mountain. 1. Write down your top three goals. If you do not have three top goals, write down three big things you really want.
2. Put these goals where you will see them several times each day. For example, a note taped on your car's dashboard. A note on your computer screen. A postcard in your shirt pocket. A sticker on the inside of your wallet. Anywhere you will constantly see the goal.
3. Every time you get stopped by life's roadblocks, do not get sad. Do not give up. Do not look for excuses. Instead, just look at your goals. Never forget to look for the mountain.
If you constantly look for the mountain, you will persist. You will work to reach it, day and night. You will find the time and energy it takes to reach the top.
No obstacle will be big enough nor strong enough to stop you. |
