Whoever said “life is short” was an idiot. Life is the longest thing you’ll ever go through. There’s literally only one thing longer than life. Death. Until you face death, anything you deal with is temporary and short. The saying should be “life is long, setbacks are short”
Setbacks are a part of life. Setbacks are often how life teaches you lessons. Most of us are too hard headed to learn a real lesson without setbacks. Many people let those setbacks, set them back further. Most people tend to think setbacks will last forever, and life is short. Which is the complete opposite of how things work on this planet.
Once you re-frame your subconscious to believe setbacks are short and life is long, you start to look at problems and struggles differently. Facing adversity, knowing it’s temporary, makes adversity much easier to endure. Having the mindset of “I’ll get through this, it’s only temporary” is a game changer. It’s the mindset of the mentally tough.
<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet” data-lang=”en”><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>Whoever said "life is short" was an idiot. Life is the longest thing we will do. Life is long but temporary setbacks are short. Take risks</p>— Hardcore Closer (@hardcorecloser) <a href=”https://twitter.com/hardcorecloser/status/736890696313884673″>May 29, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src=”//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″></script>
Now that your mind has been re-framed, the next step is to get over the setback as quickly as possible. The best way to get over a setback is to do what I call “the catapult”. A catapult is pulled back until it reaches the optimum amount of stress and tension on the cable. At some point, there’s a “trigger” pulled and the cable releases launching a weapon at full speed. A catapult is pulled back few feet, and springs the weapon 1000s of feet forward.
Think of yourself as that catapult. You hit stress and tension, which pulls you back just enough to reach your limits. Then, after a short period of time, there’s some sort of trigger in your life that causes you to use that tension and stress to spring forward with great momentum and terminal velocity.
When you face hard times, look for the ‘trigger’ that will release you from the tension and stress and launch you into momentum. Instead of feeling down and out about the setback, shift your focus to finding the trigger. As soon as you see yourself hitting a setback, start looking for that trigger.
Once you find the trigger, the next step is to pull it! Use that trigger to catapult you to heights you couldn’t reach previously. Use that trigger to gain momentum. And don’t you stop the momentum until you hit the ground. And when you hit the ground, take off running. Use every bit of momentum you can get.
In just 7 short paragraphs, I’ve taught you the simple, yet highly effective process of shaking off a slump using my CATAPULT method. Using this method will allow you to approach, face and deal with setbacks in a way different way than you are currently.
You now know that setbacks are the pivot point for momentum. This mindset allows you to actually look forward to setbacks. After all, if you believe what I’m sharing with you here, a setback is the pre-requisite for massive gains in your life. Could this actually mean setbacks are a good thing?
I’d rather approach a trying situation from a positive light, than adding more negativity to the circumstance. Having this mindset has allowed me to overcome some of the toughest obstacles we can face as humans. I’m talking adoption, incarceration, divorce, bankruptcy and sadly… more.
I’ve used every setback in my life, as a time to build enough stress and tension to launch me into momentum as soon as the trigger was pulled. When I was incarcerated, it was a major setback. I knew the trigger was my release date. During my stint, I spent my time preparing for when the trigger would be pulled. I read books. Learned new things and created an entire plan of action for the trigger date.
Use the setback time to build up stress and tension you can convert to momentum. Once you find the trigger, make a plan for what happens after it’s pulled. Those who plan to succeed, rarely fail.
Bottom line: Next time you’re in some sort of a setback situation, think of it in a positive light. It’s a good thing and a short thing, in the longest thing you’ll ever do (life) The faster you can find the trigger and get back on top of your game, the faster you’ll hit momentum. Shout out to my pal Wayne Salmans from Texas for giving me the idea to write this. Wayne mentioned it in our Sales Talk With Sales Pros group on Facebook. Feel free to join us there.
