We truly achieve our goals, not when we avoid difficulties, but when we learn to tackle them without shortcuts.
"So go to the stars through difficulties."
Seneca.
Through the roughness you get to the stars. Seneca was well aware of how difficulties were able to forge the character of a human being. This principle has universal validity. Diamonds are formed in the bowels of the Earth, subjected to unimaginable pressures; animal species survive by adapting to the difficulties of their habitat; muscle fibers grow only thanks to micro-lacerations.
Sometimes, all we want is to have a life without problems, to be able to reach our goals without too much effort, in short: get results without any effort. Such a wish is the worst curse we can wish for ourselves.
Difficulties, problems and obstacles are certainly not to be sought with the light, but avoiding them is an even more serious mistake. The next time you are faced with a difficult time, a time when all your efforts seem to be in vain, I would like you to remember this simple story: the story of the butterfly.
The story of the butterfly
One day a farmer, resting under a shadow at the end of an exhausting day, noticed a cocoon of a butterfly. The cocoon was completely closed except for a small hole in the front. Intrigued, the farmer looked through the small hole, managing to catch a glimpse the little butterfly that wriggled with all its might.
The farmer watched for a long time the heroic efforts of the elegant beast, but no matter how hard the butterfly struggled to get out of the cocoon, progress seemed minimal. Thus, the farmer, pitied by the small butterfly's commitment, took out a work knife and delicately widened the hole in the cocoon, until the butterfly was able to get out of it without any effort.
At this point something strange happened. The little butterfly, helped out of the cocoon, had not developed muscles strong enough to be able to soar in the air. Despite repeated attempts, the fragile butterfly remained on the ground and managed to crawl only a few inches from the cocoon, unable to do what nature had given birth to. The farmer saw the grave mistake made and learned a lesson that he did not forget for the rest of his life:
"Through difficulties, nature makes us stronger and worthy to realize our dreams."
Difficulties? Workouts for our goals
Well, what do you think of the story of the butterfly: do you find yourself or do you find it a supermegagalactic bullshit? Maybe you also liked the story, but deep down, you keep thinking that trying too hard to reach a goal is not for you: “what the hell, there must be a shortcut! Right?"
Willpower, self-discipline, sacrifice - all nerdy grind stuff! I am smarter! Life must be enjoyed and difficulties must be avoided like the plague! Just do a couple of visualizations, get the right cosmic vibe and the Law of Attraction will do the rest! Easy no! The fact that in this period I am not achieving many of my goals is of course just a matter of bad luck! But don't worry, I'll read a couple more books on transactional quantum physics with right escaping and you'll see that!
Let's not take the cube, nobody likes difficulties (not even the poor butterfly), but if we really want to achieve our goals, we must train and develop the muscles needed to soar in the air: here, the difficulties are our training, they are what strengthens us, what strengthens our skills, our Resilience, our willpower. Because remember ...
"There are no too ambitious goals, there are only people who give up."
But why do we give up?
Forget about results - focus on progress
Every time we set ourselves a goal, we immediately begin to think about how nice it would be to be able to achieve it immediately, without too much effort, without too much… difficulty. And that's how we focus exclusively on results, neglecting i progress daily and carefully avoiding the difficulties that emerge along the way.
There is nothing to be done, he is stronger than us. We prefer procrastinate, continuing to delude ourselves that one day, who knows how, we will achieve our goals, rather than doing the simplest and most logical thing: face the difficulties, do what we know we have to do, focus on daily progress. In this way our "muscles" will never develop enough: if we have a blow of c *? O, maybe a meddlesome farmer will open the cocoon for us, but will only condemn us to perpetual mediocrity. Otherwise, we will simply remain in our cocoon, realizing too late that we have wasted our life.
How to achieve your goals by facing difficulties
If you think about the most important goals you've accomplished in your life for just a moment, you'll realize that it wasn't the goal itself that really mattered. What really mattered was the path you took to reach it. That journey has transformed you into the person worthy of that goal. This is true in the most diverse fields:
- You want to graduate with honors? Stop looking for shortcuts to pass your exams in the best possible way. Adopt a effective study method, practice it consistently, and strengthen your "mental muscles". In the real world, nobody gives a damn about your piece of paper, what really matters is your ability to quickly learn any subject.
- You want to make money? Forget the shortcuts: you may get lucky once, maybe even twice, but you will never be able to replicate your success, or worse yet, you will have compromised your reputation forever. You must first understand what i are basic principles for making money, and then be willing to face, without giving up, all the difficulties you will encounter in translating your ideas into reality.
- You want to get back in shape? Fan *?! - it to the latest fad diets or the amazing mediashopping tools that promise you to lose weight effortlessly. Tight hips and prominent abs are just a side effect - having the determination to do that damn workout every time is the true measure of your success.
What do you decide, today, now, at this very moment? Do you want to continue avoiding difficulties or are you ready to embrace them to achieve your goals?
