“If it doesn’t challenge you, it doesn’t change you.” -Fred Devito
We have been challenging our enemies and even friends or relatives during almost every argument. Whether we are capable or not we miss the chance to challenge people. Sometimes we are wrong and then also we are bold enough to challenge the opponent. Have you ever thought to challenge yourself? Spend more time alone and think about the challenges you can give yourself. Make a list of things that hamper your progress on the way to your success. Spend at least one hour for the next 30 days to make a list of your thoughts and make a journal. If you find it difficult, I am going to share with you some of the most common challenges you can give to yourself. Here are those battles for your fighting. I am sure, you can conquer every fight and win the war.
1. Build good habits
List out your bad habits or you can take the help of your good friend to make a list. There are four possibilities of things occurring with you.
a some of the facts you only know about yourself (For example your bad nightmares)
b, some of the facts you do not know about, but people know (For example your walking style)
c, some of the facts you know, and people also know (For example your education)
d, some of the facts you do not know, and people also do not know (For example Your hidden potential)
You have to scrutinize each category and work on them separately.
2. Face your fears inch by inch
Fear is generally said to be ‘False Events Appearing Real’. Do not make it ‘Forget Everything and Run’ rather make as ‘Face Everything and Recover. ‘If you are ready to face fear, well began and be sure, half gone. Be aware of your fears and work with them. Observe the fear of an external entity. Suppose you are in a river and forcefully taken away by the current, you cannot do anything.
Dr. Dawson Church [1]has given a technique called EFT i.e., the Emotional Freedom Technique. He says, “Acupoint tapping sends signals directly to the stress centers of the mid-brain, not mediated by the frontal lobes (the thinking part, active in talk therapy).” Because EFT simultaneously accesses stress on physical and emotional levels, he adds, “EFT gives you the best of both worlds, body, and mind, like getting a massage during a psychotherapy session.” EFT can access the amygdala, an almond-shaped part of your brain that initiates your body’s negative reaction to fear, a process we often refer to as the “fight or flight” response, that makes it so powerful. It’s estimated that 10 million people worldwide have used tapping. What’s so exciting is how incredibly quickly it alleviates issues like depression, anxiety, and insomnia, as well as severe PTSD, physical pain, and even illness.
NLP i.e., Neuro-Linguistic Programming is one of the good techniques. You learn how your mind works. NLP has helped thousands in eliminating phobias, fears, and other emotional problems, so it has its place, but only if it feels magnetic to you.
3. Fight with your situation
Never hate the situation. Accept the situation whatever worse may be the condition. It is the bad reaction that makes things worsen. Our mind has always a nature of focusing on negative things. Shifts your focus from the most negative to the worst positive things. There is a great opportunity to learn from the negative situation. Ask yourself how gracefully you can deal with the situation. It depends upon your mental strength and how strong you are against the situation. Suppose you are in a corporate job and your immediate senior shouts on to get the work done in a predetermined time frame. He may feel in his position and act accordingly. You can also retaliate but think about what an ideal role model should have done and follow the steps. You may momentarily have bad feelings, but your results will be amazing.
4. Manage your weaknesses.
Nobody is perfect and almost everybody has some sort of weaknesses. List out all possible weaknesses in you and deal with them one by one. For instance, if you have stage fear or you do not have good oratory, you can practice when you are alone. Listen to your voice, record the video and analyze it. Some of the great cricketers watch their videos and improve their weaknesses and become great over a few months. You can seek the advice of an expert and master the skill.
5. Exercise challenge
Exercise is an important part of getting in shape and living a healthy lifestyle. We know that there are numerous benefits of exercise however, working out on daily basis is a demanding challenge. Persistent daily pain from exercise may lead to a better happy life without illness. It is a matter of training the mind for self-discipline. Once or twice a week when you do not like to work out, you should adopt some of the activities that may be a substitute for exercise. For instance, if you have not worked out for the day, you should prefer stairs instead of a lift while living your home or returning home from outside. It is the diversity of exercises you should adopt when you have deprived yourself of morning workouts or yoga.
6. Fight neck to neck against time
Every minute or second counts. Think of your life just like a football game. You relax on the field, and you lost. Time is the fourth dimension. If you respect the time you conquer. If you lost time, there is no you lost everything. “Time is Money” denotes a relationship between time and money i.e., to earn money you have to properly utilize the time you have. It is only when you spend your time in fruitful activities that you will prosper and wasting time, doing nothing may drain everything to ditch. You may regain or earn money again, but you can never recover your time lost.
7. Control your subconscious mind
The conscious mind is processing your activities when you are active or aware but on the other hand, the subconscious mind processes everything even if you are not aware or active. It is spiritually believed that the subconscious mind is the place where the true self lives. Total awareness of your unconscious can lead to developing behaviors and thoughts that are healthy for you, rather than hindering. You have to be very careful with your words as the subconscious mind does not recognize the positive or negative influence. As it works on the commands, you have to feed only positive things to the subconscious mind for better results.
8. Welcome changes
Your ability and intentions are responsible for the change you undergo. Changes never come automatically. Nobody likes changes, one wants to be in one’s existing stage and comfort zone. Therapists, physicians, and teachers are adopting the techniques of behavioral change as and when there is some change. Whereas at the other end when one executes the exact steps one usually involves a substantial commitment of time, effort, and emotion.
9. Declutter and detox
It is always advisable to get rid of the physical clutter piled up in your bedroom and kitchen. You feel lighter and more energized when you dispose of unnecessary things. One of the biggest time wasters is social media. Social media network when not used adequately it is your worst enemy for mental health and overall well-being, making you feel anxious and depressed. Turn off your all notifications. Instead of scrolling through social media, find some useful activities. Despite constantly engaging your mind over trivial matters, organize your specific time for social media.
10. Strengthen your relations
A strong and healthy relationship can be your best pillar in life. An intimate relationship makes you feel connected. A relationship is the best investment, the more you invest the better the return. Sometimes we break the relations on trivial things. Spend time together and have fun and celebrate occasions to strengthen your bonds. Forgive and forget and never keep grudges. Always communicate in a friendly manner as communication is a fundamental part of a healthy relationship.
11. Pursue your lifelong dream
Think of yourself as a gift to society. There are things the world expects to see, hear, and feel from you. Those who are pursuing their dreams are special people. There are no particular formulae to achieve your dream. There is an individual difference concerning dreams. Sometimes you have to move tons of soil to get grams of gold. There is no shortcut. In your journey towards your dream or goal, the person you become or the inner growth you develop is much more important than achieving your goal. Arthur Ashe, has rightly said,
“Success is a journey, not a destination. The doing is often more important than the outcome.”
Take away
1. The toughest part of dealing is dealing with the self.
2. Fight with your challenges, you will ultimately win.
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