Turning inspirations into aspirations

In the previous post, I addressed possible reactions to adversity which we all face now and then. Do you become compromised in the face of adversity? Do you become hardened by it? Do you see it as an opportunity to produce a change that is productive for yourself?

Let’s take a postive outlook and say that you prefer to produce a change that improves your lot in life, moves  you ahead towards a goal or dream.  With that said, if you were with me two years ago, you would have shared my astonishment when I stepped on a scale at my physician’s office and the nurse announced that I weighted 292 pounds! Unbelievable, as I had not weighed that much in my entire life. Where did all of those pounds come from? The reality of that news was hard to accept.  To ease my pain, I jokingly tried to bargin with the nurse by suggesting that my clothes and shoes that day weighed a lot. “Not that much,” she wryly responded.  Then I suggested that my weight issue was not my fault as I was built like my grandfather, who had a big stomach and lived to the ripe old age of 95. “Good for him,” was all she offered.

Well the reality of being overweight was before me, or should I say on me! A change towards better health was needed. I set a goal of losing 20 pounds and this would dictate a change in diet and exercise level. It was Summer at the time and I enjoyed being outside playing golf, working in the yard, taking walks so the exercise piece was in place. My physician suggested I take up the South Beach Diet program, which I did.  Lo and behold with my goal and steps to reach my goal in place I set out to lose the 20 pounds.

• I wasn’t going to abdicate to others the responsibility for my weight issue
• I clearly defined my end goal
• I was going to measure my progress with the physicians scale.

Do you creat a plan to face your adveristy? Do you include a method to measure your progress and achievement of your goal?

Most people treat the need to change much like a New Year’s Resolution – here today and gone tomorrow! Perhaps they decide they are too busy, too old, too poor, too tired — or too fearful to create a change in their lives. YOU can rise above most people by:

• clearly defining your goal and the desired end result
• create successive steps that lead to that goal
• decide what scale you will use to measure your success — would your scale be in dollars earned. pounds lost, new clients gained, dollars saved?

This process worked for me and within less than 3 months, I had lost my 20 pounds. This same process will work for you and get you where you want to be!

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A young woman went to her mother and told her about her life and how things were so hard for her. She was tired of fighting and struggling.

Her mother took her to the kitchen. She filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire. Soon the pots came to a boil.  In the first pot, she put carrots, in the second she placed eggs and in the third she placed coffee beans. In about twenty minutes, she turned off the stove. She fished the carrots and eggs and placed them in respective bowls. The mother asked the girl to feel the carrots. She did and noted they were soft. She asked to to take an egg and break it. The girl pulled off the shell and noticed the hard boiled egg. Lastly, she asked her to sip the coffee.

“What does all of this mean, mother?”

The mother explained. The carrots went in hard, strong unrelenting. However, once boiled they became soft, pliable and weak. The eggs went in delicate with its thin outer shell protecting the liquid interior. After the boiling, its interior became hard. The coffee beans were unique, however. After they were boiled, they chagnged the water.

“Which are you my dear?”

Which are you? How do you respond when adversity strikes?

• Do you wilt and lose strength like the carrots?
• Does your exterior remain the same but your spirit harden?
• Or, like the coffee beans, do you take advantage of adversity, change the situation into a ‘flavorful’, positive turn around?

In the end, does adversity cause you to elevate to a higher level of performace?

What steps do you take when faced with adversity to regain stability or to refocus on what’s important to achieving your goals?

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