Taking a Harder Road

We’re reaching the end of our journey together now but yours is only the beginning. It’s time to start putting yourself out there, testing yourself, growing, taking on challenges and deciding what’s important to you. It’s time to stop fretting about the small stuff, to cease the creature comforts and to embrace a more challenging and demanding life – because that’s where the value comes from and that’s what will make you great.

But a word of caution before you go: this is going to be tough.

You are going to find that sometimes, doing the right thing and ignoring your emotional response means saying things people don’t like.

Sticking to your principles will mean upsetting the apple cart. Forgetting how you look will lead you to sometimes being shunned.

Forgetting physical possessions will leave you sometimes feeling destitute.

But if you know yourself truly, if you know your goals, you know what you want and you know the principles you want to live by… then you will know the right things to do and you should have the strength to do them.

And that means living with the consequences.

And that is the last lesson I want to impart upon you: be willing to face the music. Be willing to put yourself out there, take risks and then face the flack that comes your way. This all follows on from the lessons on stoicism, minimalism and fear that we have already considered. But it is highly important.

As soon as you learn that sometimes you’ll get things wrong – and you accept and learn to deal with the outcome – you’ll find that you have become a more decisive and more efficient individual.

People who are afraid to make the wrong choice and who don’t want to upset anyone will never be able to make decisions. They’ll always be on the fence, and they will lack conviction.

That’s not you. You are a warrior and that means you need to follow your own path and face the consequences as a mature adult.

You will ask for forgiveness and not permission. And if you don’t get it? As long as you have done what’s right by you, then you forge ahead anyway.

You are the warrior!

Gregg Swanson is a human potential and peak performance coach. He specializes in individuals in highly competitive, stressful environments, who want to gain back control of their lives, excel at their profession and build renewed confidence so they can crush it at work, home and in life! You can grab his guide to Mental Strength 101 HERE.