How to Overcome Challenges And Lay the Foundation For Success

Life is all about the continuous effort required for overcoming challenges. Every day brings forth new hurdles, and you always have to be on guard to dodge these hurdles if you wish to live a relatively smooth, successful life.

The consistent motivation required for overcoming difficulties in life can be easily lost, even by the most successful people. It can be difficult to dig deep and find the courage to face challenges, but once you do, that strength never leaves.

If you feel like giving up, you’ve come to the right place. The 7 tips you’ll find today will give you the right boost of energy to continue your push against your daily struggles!

1. Shift Your Perspective

Every challenging situation, right off the bat, affects your perspective first.

Let’s say, this morning you woke up to an email from your boss that said that you have to work through the weekend. You had planned to meet your friends after months this weekend. Of course, you’ll instantly start to feel angry and sad.

Next, you open the fridge to make some eggs for breakfast, but the eggs have gone bad. You’re also out of cereal. Later on in the day, you have to go out grocery shopping, but your favorite, most comfortable jeans are dirty. Although this inconvenience is minor, it could possibly be the last straw.

Apparently, your entire day has gone in the wrong direction. However, the real issue is not that minor challenges got to you back-to-back. Instead, it’s your perspective.

From the moment you read the email, you put a negative twist on everything. Since then, everything was perceived as a bigger problem than it actually was. You already knew that you were out of cereal. You also probably knew that the eggs would go bad by this day.

Despite that, your negative mindset made your overreact.

Make it a habit to never let negativity take over. No, you shouldn’t force yourself to be?positive?but at least try to focus your negative energy on the real challenge. Ignore the minor inconveniences like you would on a good day.

If you let your energy go to waste on such small matters, you’ll be drained of energy before you even begin to figure out how to overcome your challenges.

2. Learn From Someone Who Has Been There

If it gives you comfort, then you should know that you’re not the only one going through this issue. Someone out there is going through similar circumstances, and possibly even worse.

Similarly, there’s someone out there who has been through the same challenge but was able to get out of it unharmed.

There are millions of people in similar circumstances. You may know at least one such individual who has gone through a similar issue. It could be a celebrity, someone from your neighborhood, a member from your extended family, or anyone from anywhere.

This person’s experience is a source of?motivation , as well as a guide, to get through your challenge. Overcoming challenges can be as easy as observing the people around you in the long term.

If you can’t think of anyone who has tackled the problem already, it’s alright. You’ll know of someone who, if ever faced with a similar situation, could walk through it without an issue. Maybe that’s because this person has enough money to buy their solution, or they have the physical and mental ability to find a way out.

Whatever the case, try to follow the same footsteps. Come up with alternatives to suit your circumstances. As long as you have an example to see, you’ll have the strong will to continue in the same direction. A real-life example is the best motivation to continue the fight against your life’s hurdles.

Similarly bring to mind a challenge you have overcome already. Once you realize you've done it once, you'll have the inspiration to do it again.

3. Don’t Shy Away From Help

You came into this world alone, and you’ll leave alone. Yet, every human depends on others for their survival between these two points of existence. Even the strongest economies in the world are interdependent. It’s only natural to expect an emotionally or physically strained person like you to seek help as well.

If you aren’t capable of pulling yourself out of the tough situation, go ahead and seek out support or help. A third party will likely be able to offer a perspective you hadn’t seen.

Having someone to support you through your tough time is great. The best scenario is if they have the expertise to get you over the hurdle. Even if that’s not the case, the emotional support is more than enough to keep you going in tough times.

They may also be able to present examples of challenges you have overcome to motivate you to overcome whatever you're facing now.

4. Figure out a Solution

There’s a solution to almost every problem you’ll face as you seek success in life.

No matter how big of a mountain you think has come in front of you, it won’t kill you. You can reach its top with the?small steps?you take every day.

If you’re thinking of ways of overcoming challenges, you’re already on the right track. Only with a mind that wants to overcome an issue can you actually do it. So, start thinking of all possible and impossible solutions to your problem.

For example, if you’re currently going through a financial problem, some solutions include shifting to a better-paid job, working more than one job, taking out a loan, winning the lottery, robbing a bank, and the list goes on. By simply acknowledging that there are so many solutions to your problem, half your worries will be eradicated.

The next step is, of course, to work on a realistic solution. Once you’re figured out the most feasible route for yourself, you need to start taking baby steps towards it.

Let’s say you decided to change your job. You’ll start by looking out for career choices that pay well and are also relevant to your skills and experience. Next, you’ll apply to places that have open vacancies, and so on.

With a focused goal, you won't lose your sense of direction amid all the hindrances.

5. Compartmentalize

Do you know what pulls people down during a tough time? It’s not that one challenge, but the fact that this one challenge overshadows everything and makes it difficult to overcome life challenges along the way.

An issue in your career reflects on your behavior with your partner, keeps you from hanging out with your friends, strains your motivation to stay fit, and basically harms every other aspect of your life. All of this is because that one challenge is all that’s on your mind. You're unable to distract your brain to think of other things.

This behavior is harmful not just to you, but also to those around you. Keep the challenges of your life restricted. If they take over, you won’t be able to overcome them. To solve one problem, you need to continue to live normally in other parts so that you don’t lose your strength.

How do you overcome challenges?

Learn to?compartmentalize ?so that your brain is trained to keep the good things away from the negative. With an organized mind, you can conquer any challenge that comes to you.

6. Focus on the Bigger Picture

There are many quotes about overcoming challenges, but one that rings particularly true is this:

One closed door opens another.?

One hurdle may seem like a full stop, but it may be exactly what you need to reach a final goal.

Imagine the prettiest landscape; a land full of peace, serenity, natural beauty, a starry sky, and everything nice that you can think of. If you know that the final destination is worth it, you won’t mind the narrow path that you’ll have to walk on to get to it.

Similarly, if you can shift your focus to the bigger picture, the minor challenges won’t seem to be an issue. Instead, you’ll make the most of them by learning from every challenging second. Going through a hard time can bring you many benefits if you have the right point of view.

7. Help Others

In the end, despite your challenges, be ready to offer help to others.

You will be contributing to the cycle of help while also learning a great deal from their way of tackling a life issue. Moreover, offering a helping hand ensures you’ve got someone you can rely on during your tough times, too.

The Takeaway Today?

Overcoming challenges in life requires a balanced way of tackling the problem without letting it affect healthy parts of your life. It not only requires physical effort, but also mental strength.

What you learned today are a good balance between both. They keep you mentally strong so that you can give your maximum physically. Altogether, you can put up a strong fight against the hardest challenges. No obstacle can stop you from living your life to the fullest.

All you’ve got to do now is stay determined and push yourself by implementing these tips in your life. Then, notice yourself looking forward to new challenges instead of dreading them!

Leon Ho ?is the Founder and CEO of?Lifehack ?– a productivity blog he started in 2005. He was listed as Business Week’s #4 “Top 24 Young Asian Entrepreneurs” and has grown Lifehack into one of the most read self-improvement websites in the world – with over 12 million monthly readers. You can check out his book?The Full Life Essential Guide , and take a look at his self-improvement mastercourses?here ?or join one of his free classes?here .

This article originally appeared on Lifehack .