Today’s post is a spontaneous idea of just getting online and typing something I am thinking about.  I am going to try this every once in a while to see if the idea resonates with you and if my writing is bearable when I just put it out there rather than self-edit.

2016 has been an interesting year to say the least.  It feels like many times over, things did not go as planned.  Sometimes they turned out even better than expected and other times they fell way short of what had been intended.  This has led me to question, what exactly can we do when thing aren’t going as planned.  Is there a point where you just walk away, cut your loses and say “ok, I gave it my best try” or do we keep pushing hoping for it to eventually break open?  Or is there some magical in between where we don’t give up but instead course adjust, modify or adapt to the way things have unfolded?

Lisa Nichols is famous for the wonderful stories she tells during her motivational talks and one that she told about swimming really touched me.  She explained that she was not a great swimmer and she wanted to give up trying but instead her grandmother gave Lisa a key phrase that stuck with her and helped her push through the barriers of doubt.  Her grandmother said, “Quitters never win and winners never quit.”  Simple but profound.  This idea has been repeated in Lewis Howes new book “The School of Greatness”, where he pulls together the wisdom he has gleened from people who have reached extraordinary heights in their chosen fields.  Almost every one of the high acheivers repeats in some way, ‘don’t stop, keep pushing, don’t give in when it would be easy to quit’.

That seems to be the key when I truly think about it, the word “easy”.  We want to live a life of ease but at the same time if you look back over your life, if you are truly honest, you know that you have grown, deepened your widsom and developed your understanding most during those moments when it is anything but easy.  Now I am not saying that it has to be difficult all the time but I do think it can help during those times of doubt to remember that easy is not always the best thing.

I still haven’t come up with a solid solution for knowing when it is time to move on or keep pushing forward but I do know that life conspires with us, never against us.  It is logical then that we will know when it is time to give in, when it is time to revise and when it is time to go in with all engines firing.  The knowing may not always be clear but it is there if you take the time to question, be quiet and listen for the answers.