"When the Going Gets Tough" - Part 5

"The 3 R's of Change: Retreat, Regroup, Rethink"

Yesterday we looked at the first "R" of "The 3 R's of Change" when we examined the thoughts behind the word, "RETREAT".

Again, the word "retreat" DOES NOT mean surrender! Do NOT forget that and do NOT confuse that point. It is vitally important to your success as you move on with your decision to "get up and get going" again.

Think of this analogy as we consider "The 3 R's of Change"...

This example is true whether you are talking about college football or the pros (it's also true in basketball as well as other sports) - there is a halftime for a reason.

Halftime gives each team a chance to RETREAT, REGROUP and RETHINK!

When that horn or whistle blows signifying that the first half is over and done with, each team retreats to the locker room. Have they given up? Have they forfeited the game by leaving the court? NO!

They have simply "retreated" so that they can "regroup" and "rethink" before beginning play in the second half of the game.

Now think about this - even if everything has been going in their favor the whole first half of the game the players still need to regroup! Perhaps someone needs to have an ankle taped or they all need to rehydrate and catch their breath before going back at it again.

And, even if everything has been going in their favor the coaches STILL need to "rethink" what has gone on and decide if they want to keep doing the exact same thing (that has been working) OR change it up a little bit to throw the opposing team off of their guard a little bit more.

Now, let's go to the other locker room. Let's go to the locker room where NOTHING seems to have been going in their favor for the first half of the game. They were HAPPY to have the chance to retreat to the locker room before things go any worse! They were HAPPY to have the chance to "regroup" and "rethink" what has been going wrong with their game plan.

They may need to completely scrap their original game plan and go with something different. Why? Because what they have been doing has not been working!

If you know anything about sports then you know what would happen if that team were to go back on the field without having changed their approach. You would hear a chorus of "boos" coming from their fans if they came out and did the exact same thing that WASN'T WORKING in the first half of the game!

And, likely, that coach would end up losing his job. Why? Because it is ridiculous to think that you can keep doing the same "proven-to-fail" methods over and over again and expect anything BUT failure as a result.

So, this may seem like an oversimplified analogy, but it is one that fits what we are talking about in a way that should help us all understand that this is something WE MUST DO if we plan to have different and better results when we face tough times.

Oh, and by the way, I discovered a 4th and very important "R" to go along with the first three - you don't want to miss it!

Until then...

"Make it an AWESOME day! (Who else is going to do it for you?)"

Mike

"When the Going Gets Tough" - Part 3

Part 3 - "Why the NEED for CHANGE?"

As we continue to discuss the saying, "When the going gets tough the tough get going" I hope we have all gotten a little bit more comfortable with admitting that this is not always true in our own lives.

Here's the bottom line on this whole thing - we can keep living a LIE instead of being honest with ourselves and, if we choose to do so, we must also understand that NOTHING will EVER change for the better in our lives.

WHY? First and foremost, a life (or really ANYTHING) built on lies cannot stand and prosper.

Period.

So, again, let's get honest about this whole thing and just admit that many times (most? all?) when the going gets tough we DON'T always "get going" the way we'd like to think we should or even could.

So far we've looked at the thoughts of, "When the going gets tough..."

- We have to make some choices! Actually, there is only one of two choices: GIVE UP or GET UP! It is your choice, indeed, and no one else can make it for you. For the rest of the discussions that we are having on this I am moving with the assumption that you have decided to GET up and KEEP MOVING forward!

- We probably need to make some CHANGES! When we find ourselves in a tough situation we probably are going to need to do something DIFFERENT in order to get OUT of this tough situation!

This brings us to today's thoughts shared via the podcast and now, in this article.

WHY THE NEED FOR CHANGE?

First of all, we may need to make some changes out of necessity. I used the example of a tornado coming through and wiping your house out completely. When that happens your whole life changes in an instant!

When something like that happens - something completely out of your control - you will definitely have to make some changes. Like it or not, you are being FORCED to make some changes! Why? Because nothing IS the same as it was and there is no other option but change.

There are times that things happen that are completely out of our control and, even then, we have the choice to either give up or get up and keep fighting. In situations like this (beyond our control) the change HAS taken place whether we wanted it to or not. How we respond to that change is now up to us.

Now, sometimes we find ourselves in tough situations because of something WE have done! Oh, we don't like to talk about that, now do we? In the podcast I mentioned the need to get brutally honest with ourselves on this one. It is so easy to always blame someone or something else for our tough situations when, sometimes, it is our OWN fault that we find ourselves in a tough situation.

Here's a clue: if you find yourself in tough situations over and over and over again, it is likely something that YOU are doing - or NOT doing - that is putting yourself in that situation!

I'm sure you've all heard that definition of insanity that says something along the lines of "trying to do the same thing over and over again and expecting different results is the true definition of insanity." Makes sense, doesn't it?

Here's the example I used in the podcast for today: Let's say the "tough situation" is represented by a brick wall in front of you. It has stopped your progress and you have decided that you are NOT going to give up and that you are going to MOVE AHEAD past this obstacle to keep moving on to your goals and dreams.

You have decided that you are going to go THROUGH the brick wall using brute force. And, being a man and taking to heart that your wife has told you that you have a hard head, you have decided that you will USE your head as a battering ram.

Now, isn't it interesting that "using your head" in that sentence actually means that you are NOT using your head (as in, "not thinking clearly")?

Tell me friend, how long will it take - how many head bangs against that brick wall - before you begin to understand that what you are doing IS not working and WILL not work? How long will it take before you realize that you need to CHANGE your approach and do something differently?

THAT'S what we're talking about.

In the next article we are going to discuss the "Three R's" of change that we may want to consider.

Until next time...

"Make it an AWESOME day!" (Who else is going to do it for you?)"

Mike

"When the Going Gets Tough" - Part 2

"When the Going Gets Tough" - Part 2

As I continue with my thoughts on this topic of, "When the Going Gets Tough..." I do want to take just a moment and look at the thoughts we have already shared together to this point.

FIRST - The fact that things GET TOUGH is just a part of life! I'm sorry to burst your bubble if you didn't already know this but, if you've been lucky enough to live a "tough-free" life up to this point, then you need to prepare yourself because, sooner or later, THEY WILL GET TOUGH! Again, it's just a part of life and the "human experience".

SECOND - The ending part of this phrase, "When the going gets tough the tough get going." isn't always true for us, is it? Sure, we'd love it to be true any and every time we face touch challenges in our lives - but we just don't! And, because of that, many times we beat ourselves up with guilt because we feel week and inferior. Why? Because we are either trying to live up to someone else's expectations of us OR we are falling short of our own expectations in this area. Bottom line: we don't always handle things or face things the way we (or others) think that we should.

THIRD - We looked at one "ending" to this phrase by saying, "When the going gets tough you have to make some CHOICES!" And, in my book, you have only two choices - GIVE UP or GET UP. You can either roll up into a ball and give up OR you can keep fighting ahead with the attitude that you will NEVER, EVER GIVE UP! Hey, even that thought is kind of "rah rah", isn't it? I mean that thought is powerful but it doesn't always live up to the hype. I think it is because of the "image" we have in our minds associated with the idea of "never, ever giving up". But, regardless, the choice is your and you are currently following one of the two paths in your life. Which path are YOU following currently?

AND NOW FOR TODAY'S THOUGHTS - "When the going gets tough you probably need to make some CHANGES!"

This goes along with the "image" I mentioned in point 3 of this article that we often have in our minds when we think about the fact that we will NEVER, EVER GIVE UP!

I applaud your decision to never give up! I SUPPORT your decision to never give up! It is a decision that we all MUST make IF we really ever plan to move forward and make any progress in any area of our lives.

But, if you find yourself continually in difficult situations and things aren't changing the way that you think that they should then, perhaps, you need to make a CHANGE in the way you are approaching/attacking the situation.

We'll talk more about this in the next part of this series but, for now, just consider the "image" of NEVER GIVING UP that you may have in your head.

Is it an image of just pounding away and hitting "the problem" full on - head on - repeatedly until it caves in to your might?

How's that working out for you? (And I say that with a little smile on my face, by the way.)

Maybe it's time we made a change in our approach.

Think about it and, until next time...

"Make it an AWESOME day! (Who else is going to do it for you?)"

Mike