How to overcome the struggle

A couple years ago, I found myself in WAY over my head.

I was planning an event and there were a lot of moving parts. As that event drew near, everything was going wrong. People were being pulled away from the project, contractors weren't doing their work or answering their phones, and I was running out of time.

The good news was that tickets were selling like crazy. It seemed like this had the potential to be a really successful event!

But the week of, with many, many steps to go...I found myself operating almost completely alone with people letting me down everywhere I looked.

I remember thinking to myself, "Man...I am struggling."

In order to turn this around and pull it off, I realized I needed to wake up very early and work all day for several days in a row in order to pull it off.

It was hard to get in the mindset of waking up early and working even harder than I already was...I didn't want to wake up at all! I wanted to lay in bed all day.

But I was unwilling to let the event fail, and so I decided to fight.

In fact, that insight was a turning point.

I told myself that I wasn't going to struggle anymore – I was going to fight.

When my alarm rang at 6am, my first thought was, "OK – it's time to fight."

I had to fight against my own stress. I had to fight against my anxiety and fear. I had to fight against my despair.

I realized that no one was going to do the work for me. And of course I could surrender, but I wanted to fight instead.

This is a hard time for a lot of us. You may feel like you're really struggling right now – and I don't blame you for a second.

But there's a lot of power in changing the way you frame this struggle to yourself.

I don't question for a second that times are hard. I don't question that things may feel like a struggle. And I'm not saying any of this is your fault.

But the best way to get through that struggle is to keep showing up and working hard even when it feels pointless. You need to give yourself every chance by trying to engineer some luck for yourself.

To do that, and to work through the emotional struggle, you'll need to fight.

And by telling yourself that you're not struggling, but instead fighting, it puts you back into the driver seat. Regardless of the bad hand you may be dealt, you aren't defined by the hard reality you're facing, but instead you're defined by the actions you're taking to overcome it.

When you're fighting, you'll feel more empowered.

When you're fighting, you'll send a signal. People will sense determination and hard work – something we look for in the people we hire.

So if you find yourself struggling right now, I encourage you to take a deep breath, take some time to think about the actions YOU can take to give yourself your best chance at success, and then make the decision to fight.

Release the narrative of, "I'm struggling" and embrace a new mantra, "I'm fighting."

Cheers,

Jay

PS: Looking to reclaim more of your time for yourself? Join our September Reclaim Your Time Challenge and immediately receive a video overview for managing your calendar, scheduling, and staying on top of tasks.

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Ryan Robinson is a full-time blogger, podcaster and content marketing consultant. His blog teaches people how to start a blog and grow a profitable side business.

Ryan's site attracts more than 500,000 visitors per month and earns more than $450,000 in affiliate income per year.

In this episode we talk about starting his blog, his process for creating headlines and outlines, ranking for search, and how great Planning allows him to consistently publish and compete for search traffic.

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Jay Clouse is the creator of Freelancing School, which provides the training and community to help people make a living freelancing. He is also the founder of Unreal Collective, a community for founders, freelancers, and creators that runs a 12-week accelerator program.

Jay hosts Creative Elements, which interviews high-profile creators who have made their own independent living.

You can connect with Jay on Twitter @jayclouse or sign up for his Sunday newsletter for creatives at jayclouse.com.

And if you REALLY want to say 'thank you,' you can buy me a coffee.