The Struggle Is Real

Today, I want to talk about meaning and struggle. I’ve been talking with a lot of people as part of my process for prospecting for high performance coaching clients. While talking to prospects I go through a free coaching call where we go over all the different things that go into high performance, things like confidence and courage, clarity and influence. A lot of people that I have spoken to talk to me of their struggle. Those who seek high performance coaches often have hit a snag. There were other ones who were really, really on the ball and really happy with what they’re doing, but they’ve somehow fallen off. This is the kind of struggle I want to talk about today, because a lot of people go through life thinking that life will be perfect if there’s no struggle and then I’ll be happy. And yet struggle is a daily part of our lives.

We’re never going to be free of a struggle. If you follow Brendon Burchard, you will know already that he talks about honouring the struggle. He’s not the only one. In a podcast with one of the mentors for the founders of Airbnb, he was talking about the meaning in a struggle. If you’re attaching your value to whether or not you’re successful in business or if you’re like the perfect mom your struggle is going to be void of meaning and it’s going to spiral downward really quickly. However, if you look at your struggle, pause, and ask, “what am I learning and how am I progressing? How is this going to make me better? How is this going to make my business better?” then there is room for growth.

As long as I’ve learned something, there is meaning in the struggle and I feel good about it. It’s kind of weird to say I feel good about things that are hard, but that’s how you actually cope with the stuff that’s really, really difficult. So, if you’re going through a struggle right now and you’re really not sure what the meaning is in whatever it is that you’re going through, I really encourage you to read Victor Frankel’s book Man’s Search For Meaning. It really helps you contextualize what it is that you’re going through. You’ll see how this man who went through the prison camps in World War II, still managed to find meaning in his struggle.

Do not be confused, he didn’t enjoy his struggle. He doesn’t express happiness in his struggle – but he was able to find something to take away from it. And there’s always something we can take away, even from our most difficult moments. Hopefully you find that encouraging. It’s a message that I’ve been really thinking about today. If you’re going through a struggle, please remember that you’re absolutely not alone. There is meaning in your struggle and you will get through this.

If you want to reach out and/or if you want to chat, just send me a private message. I’ll be more than happy to hop on a call. I help people with their struggles on a regular basis to turn their lives around, to find meaning and purpose again. Then once they find their meaning through their struggle, I teach them to do something with that meaning, to actually operationalize that new found feeling of purpose and confidence. I hope you have a great day.