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How to Thrive in Challenging Times

Writer's picture: Sarah PraetoriusSarah Praetorius

Updated: Jan 25, 2023



All our personal chronicles will contain chapters in which adversity strikes! By encountering the difficult we embark on journeys of evolution and self-discovery. Today’s podcast focuses on creating positive momentum in precisely these challenging times! Whether it's financial, professional, romantic, or emotional disasters, learn to thrive instead of solely surviving. Personal development expert, Sam Crowley shows us how to become liberated by challenging periods through the power of focus!
Here are a couple of tips to start thriving right now!

1. Focus on the 20ft in front of you

Focus on tasks you can action in the present. By mentally projecting into the future, we often immobilize ourselves with anxiety. Insurmountable piles of to-dos create decision paralysis! Imagine driving home in a heavy fog. While we may not be able to see as normal, we can focus on the 20ft in front of us. Slowly and incrementally, we make it to our destination. This metaphor reflects progress in challenging times! We often lack foresight, certainty, and speed, perhaps not knowing what the next week holds. However, we can control the next 30 minutes of our lives. It’s the very simplest things, such as getting out of bed that create momentum. The tiniest first challenge of the day is the equivalent of putting the key in the ignition. The sun will always come up eventually and allow us to navigate our circumstances more aptly than ever before.

2. Set a time

When we’re in a hurricane of crisis, it’s easy to engage in catastrophic thinking. We have all-or-nothing attitudes, in which everything seems lost. However, life continues, even in the midst of storms! Bills still need to get paid, while professional responsibilities will continue to accumulate. It's important that we continue engaging with life and confronting situations, no matter how much fear we’re battling with. Set a time for yourself. Can you make it until noon? Can you make it till the end of the workday? Set yourself intervals to help you gradually make it through challenging periods. This exercise chisels structure into the terrain of the unknown, allowing us to keep anxiety at bay.
Explore Bookboon’s Expert Talks audio series and soundscape your home office with feel-good podcasts. Bookboon Learning is a fully branded, plug-and-play online learning platform that covers subjects such as leadership, personal development, and management. We are currently focusing on topics such as 'Working from Home,' 'Staying Positive,' 'Managing Virtual Teams,' and 'Resilience.'

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