Are You Facing Up To The Challenge?

By: Kate Harper
Submitted: 2007-01-17 16:40:21
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"Happiness includes chiefly the idea of satisfaction after full honest effort. No one can possibly be satisfied and no one can be happy who feels that in some paramount affairs he failed to take up the challenge of life."

Arnold Bennett (1867-1931), British writer, novelist

After a number of very busy weeks I have been thinking about how, every day, we all have challenges to face, big and small, especially when it comes to fitting in everything that we want to do. So, what challenges are you facing, and how do you manage to deal with them?

Often we find it a struggle to decide what to concentrate on when there seems to be so much to be done. Keeping all the balls in the air can be exhausting. Some good questions to ask yourself are these, “Which of these balls are made of rubber and which are made of glass?” and “Of all the things I have on my list to do today, which are the ones that will help me to move forward?”

Challenge yourself! Take a look at all the things you’ve been avoiding and see how many you can get done this week. Set yourself deadlines and allow yourself some sort of reward for completing each one.

One of the greatest challenges some of us face is when and if to make time for ourselves. With so much responsibility, at home as well as in the work place, there seems little opportunity to do anything for ourselves. This is your challenge – even if it is only for five minutes, choose to do something for yourself EVERY DAY. It is not selfish, but necessary to allow you to retain your sense of balance.

For some people adding some new activity into their lives is a real challenge. They either have no interest in being active, although they know that the benefits surely outweigh the effort. For others, it is where to fit it in to their busy lives. The challenge is not only to start adding more activity into your life, but to keep it going! Remind yourself exactly why you want to be more active and also what your ultimate goal is. Picture yourself as an active person and take every opportunity you can to try out new things, so that you can find the activity or sport that you enjoy and are likely to keep going to.

There is no doubt that sometimes we feel we have to do things that we don’t really want to. There are many and various reasons for this. If you can see no way of ditching or delegating something, set yourself the challenge of finding ways to make the whole experience a more enjoyable one. What can you do to add value to the task, or to tweak it to make it less of an effort? What internal language do you use? Turn it around and approach these particular tasks with gusto! It might not work every time, but then again……

What new thing did you do today? What are you going to do tomorrow? It doesn’t have to be groundbreaking stuff, but something that adds interest and colour to your life. You could speak to someone new, or try doing something you always do in a different way. There are new foodstuffs to try out all the time. You can even try a new way of thinking!

Doing something creative every week can be a challenge for some – a delight for others. The trick is to find what creative pursuit actually appeals to you. Creativity can be expressed in so many different ways, such as art, music, writing, cookery, drama, and the list goes on. What sparks your creativity?

Doing something for nothing. What does this actually mean to you? It could mean that you work as a volunteer for some charity or group. It could mean that you are a mentor to someone else, purely to help them get on and progress without any thought of what you might get out of it. Your challenge is to think about what you can do for nothing that will reward you with satisfaction of a good job done, rather than for any other reason. Are you willing to face up to the challenge?

Kate Harper is a Motivation Coach based in the beautiful Highlands of Scotland. Check out her website http://www.harpercoaching.com

She works with people from all over the world who are seeking change in their lives. If that is you, please take a look at Kate's website. Her special interests are the promotion of Wellbeing and Self Confidence through her coaching.

"The distance is nothing; it is only the first step that is difficult." Madame Marie du Deffand

Take your first step today and contact Kate.

Go here to get my free 7 day mini e-Course on Procrastination - http://www.harpercoaching.com/HC_e-Courses_Menu_Page2.htm

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