A simple 5 step process to overcome any challenge

Written by: James White

On the 28th May I embarked on probably the toughest challenge I have ever done. If you have followed me for a while, you will know that I have done challenges like the David Goggins Challenge and the NC 500 on a bike. This year I did a new challenge that I created, called the 1x10x100 in Bristol.

It is called the 1x10x100 and I had to swim 1 mile, run for 10 and then cycle for 100, all within a 24-hour period.

I created this challenge as I wanted to do something that could push me both mentally and physically, and also to raise money for a charity close to my heart. Last year I sadly lost my mother, and I wanted to raise money for the brilliant Marie Curie, which helped my family at a time when we needed it most.

If you know me you will know, I am not the slimmest man in the world so doing this challenge was hard work.

In this blog I am going to share with you the five ways and methods that I use to overcome hard challenges in both sales and my personal life.

VISUALISE WHY IT MATTERS TO YOU

If you’ve got a challenge or something that’s going on in your life, take a moment to shut your eyes and visualise WHY it matters to you.

Personally, when my mum was going through her challenges last year, I was able to get support for, a night nurse from Marie Curie.

I remember looking over at my dad one evening as they told us that this nurse would come back again the following night. The sheer relief on his face when he knew we would have extra support… The visualisation of his face in that moment makes it clear for me why I did the challenge, and I remembered this whilst I was at the hard points of my 1x10x100.

Visualise what it is that matters to you. Whether it’s something personal to you, to prove someone wrong, or you’re just fed up of life being the way it is. Visualise what it looks like, what support you will get and what achievement looks like. What is the critical factor within it and keep that in mind.

This is what I did. I thought about the way my dad looked at the nurse and what would of happened if we didn’t have the support of Marie Curie. I want other families to have that same support, and this is why I did this challenge.

Visualise why it matters and think about it whilst going through your tough time.

BREAK IT DOWN INTO SMALLER CHUNKS

Although I did a 1 mile swim, a 10 mile run and a 100 mile bike ride, what I did though was break each part down into little chunks.

In the lake we swam in, there were different markers. I kept telling myself to swim to the next one, then the next one, and so on.

There is a great saying that someone once said to me: “If you’re going to eat an elephant at one time, how do you do it? One bite at a time.”

The same applies with any challenge – break down the challenge into smaller chunks and focus on the task at hand.

The same also applies to sales. If you have a target to achieve, break it down into 10 or 15 smaller chunks and then work on getting the first thing done, then the next, and so on…

This way you will be able to see some success as you get on with it. You’ll get some dopamine in your brain that says “I’ve achieved that” and it will help you build momentum for the next part of your challenge.

SET MINI TARGETS

When I was doing a bike ride last year and was riding 500 miles in 7 days, on the days when I knew I had 100 miles to focus on, I broke it down (as I mentioned above) into smaller chunks. When I had a mini target in mind and was feeling tired, I would look up and see a lamp post or a sign and say to myself “you’re going to cycle quickly until you get to that point”.

I kept using mini targets to get to where I needed to be, then I would give myself a pat on the back and take a short break.

Mini targets can make a massive difference, when you have a lot of work to do. Tell yourself you will complete 5 tasks and then take a break and spend 30 minutes doing something you want to do, before continuing.

You can’t achieve big things without achieving small things, and the reality is those small little things all mount up and become the factors that enable big challenges to happen.

IT WON’T ALWAYS FEEL LIKE THIS

This point is a really simple one. Tell yourself it’s not always going to feel this way.

When I’m feeling crap and really struggling, I give myself a little pep talk and tell myself that it’s not always going to feel like this. That it’s just a period that I’m going through right now. I try to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

I also think back to my vision and the mini targets that I had set, and suddenly the issue that I had goes away. 

Be in a position where you can really start to think about what the challenge might be in two weeks’ time or three weeks’ time. Remind yourself you can get through it, and it will be a massive help when overcoming challenges. 

PROGRESS IS PROGRESS

No matter how small the steps may seem, progress is progress. I’vm inspired by this brilliant quote from Nelson Mandela which says, “It always seems impossible until it’s done”.

When you’re going through challenges it always seems impossible, but the only way you overcome the challenge is another step forward, and then another step, and so on…

When I did my challenge last week, there were moments where I thought “I can’t do this”, but I knew that if I stopped, I wouldn’t achieve what I needed to do. I knew that if I kept taking just one more step forward, I would eventually get to the finishing line.

Remind yourself that if you keep going a step at a time progress, no matter how small, is still progress. If you focus on doing that one thing at a time you will get the result that you want at the end.

These 5 things enabled me to overcome the 1x10x100 challenge, and I hope they help you too. 

Try them and you will be able to overcome whatever challenge life throws at you, AND feel good at the end of it! 

Challenges help you to build up that mental resilience that enables you to take anything on.

If you want to find out more about the challenges that I take on, make sure you follow me on my social media to keep in the loop and maybe you can also get involved with these too.

Publish date: 1 June 2022

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