Sometimes you will find yourself on top of the world, at other times you may well feel as though the weight of the world is crashing down upon you, and yet at others you may find yourself somewhere in between, hopefully in a place much closer to the former than the latter.

Yes, life is a moving target. It has its twists, turns, ups and downs, but all in all even the most difficult of challenges can serve us and make us better in some way, provided we are willing to accept it to be true. Even if it is simply the growth which can come from realizing how powerful we are for having overcome the given challenge in the first place.

The essential thing to remember when you find yourself going through life’s turmoil is to avoid the temptation to think that life, or depending on where you are in terms of your faith, that GOD is somehow trying to keep you down. That’s the easy route to go, to accept that something or someone outside of yourself is simply trying to keep you from the good things in life. Resist that line of thinking with all your might, for in accepting such thinking you lose that inner power — that can only be fully ignited when you ask the magic question…

“What in this can I control?”

It’s a simple question, but when you ask it of yourself, and genuinely think it through, the answer that comes to you is oh so empowering! You see, being stuck, and feeling as though things are out of your control is an incredibly dis-empowering feeling. It has the power to make us feel that no matter what we try, no matter what we do we’re stuck, that nothing is working. When we are in that place mentally we give thought to that, we can become consumed by that line of thinking and even begin to believe that it’s true.

On the other hand there is always, in even the most seemingly desperate of situations some action point, that if taken and acted upon has the ability to move you from the place you are now, to where you want to be.

The key is being able to block out the “stinking thinking, as Zig Ziglar calls it, long enough to ask yourself — and answer the all important question of, “what can I control in this situation”. When the answer comes to you, and it will — don’t over think it, don’t fall victim to that inner voice which attempts to plead its case as to all the reasons your solution won’t possibly work. Instead get into action as soon as humanly possible.

The reason kicking into action is so vital is that the Law of Diminishing Intent is real. This law states simply that the longer it takes for you to begin an activity, the more likely you will be to never get started in the first place — and as a result never see the positive results you would had you simply gotten started. Believe me, it’s real, and you will find yourself its victim if you don’t adopt the habit of moving forward in action as quickly as humanly possible. To help you become a “do it now” person keep in mind the little mantra that speaker & author Brian Tracy suggests, “do it now, do it now, do it now”. Simple, but simple works!

If you’ve heard me give one of my speaking presentations or happen to own a copy of my audio program, ‘Why Perfect Timing is a Myth‘, you’ve heard me say, “you can’t always control what happens to you in life, but you can always control how you react to what happens to you”. Make sure you take in the enormity of that statement because it really is important that you grasp its message.

For example, if you’ve been laid off from your job — no matter how much you think about it, at the end of the day, you’re still out of a job, but the way you choose to react to that unfortunate situation is in your control. You can choose to double up on the number of resumes you send out, or attend a number of networking events, letting those in attendance know you’re available for employment. Notice I’m not saying that it’s not unfortunate that you were let go. Instead I’m suggesting that no amount of thought you give as to what is or isn’t fair about having been let go will serve you.

However, what can work for you is choosing to react, or take some action which can move you into a more positive direction. Asking the Magic Question will get you on the path to where you want to go.

While I used the example of a job loss above, you could easily replace it with the challenge of not making a sale, having family and or relationship challenges. Any number of things could be substituted in the example above. The point isn’t to act as though everything in life is all roses all the time. Sometimes we all experience very real, very hard challenges. It’s part of the human experience.

The way in which we frame things has a lot to do with whether or not we remain stuck in the challenges which we find ourselves in, as well as how quickly we move past them. Our ability to identify things — real action steps we can do which will move us in the direction we want to go is vitally important with regards to turning our situation around and living a life more in line with our choosing and inner vision.

Keep clearly in mind that you are an incredible person with amazing gifts and talents. Whatever challenges you may be facing, or have faced in your past are not your reality. You can work through them, overcome them, and yes, if you choose to allow them to be — they can help you grow in your life’s journey.

As you move through your day, week, and the years ahead, develop the incredibly helpful habit of asking the magic question of, “what can I control in this situation”.

My friend, I wish you all the best!

And remember…

It’s your life, LIVE BIG!
Josh Hinds