Have you ever faced a setback where you thought you could never get back where you were?

Maybe you had a kid and gained a large amount of weight.

Or you had a competition coming up and you just got an injury preventing you from competing.

Maybe you lost your job and your stressing about how you’re going to replace your income.

Or the evil taxman took all your money.

Or just maybe, someone you relied on abandoned you.

There are so many more examples. Unfortunately we aren’t dealing with these properly.

The biggest problem we encounter is overcoming that setback.

Here is an example:

Someone you hate at work stresses you out and it’s preventing you from getting your work done. So what’s your normal response once this happens? You complain and vent to one of your friends. Instead of looking for a solution, you look for sympathy.

The same goes for not reaching a fitness goal or getting to a certain weight goal. I see it all the time. I get excuse after excuse for someone not getting that goal in the time frame we settled on. No one wants to be told that it’s the “excuse” that’s holding you back from getting to your goal. They only want sympathy and something to blame.

I’ve personally got fired from a couple of jobs and I got really stressed when I really needed the income.

The first time this happened, I blamed everything on the job and the employers. I told myself how stupid it was working there and that it was a huge waste of time. This was the first job I ever had and it was at a retail store.

In my mind, the managers were the enemy. It had nothing to do with me. In reality I was 100% to blame but I still didn’t learn that.

I did know one thing though, I knew I needed to make money and I wasted no time looking for another job. I applied to at least 30-40 jobs. I went to coffee shops, gyms, stores, even McDonald’s to hand in my resume for a job. I eventually got a job at a gym being somewhere that I enjoyed.

Several jobs later, I became a personal trainer and got my first training job at a high-end big box gym. In 3 months I had the most clients and the highest session count of the gym. A couple months later, I was let go. I generated the most revenue for the gym and all of a sudden I was done.

This was hard to handle at first, but I knew what I needed to do to get back where I needed to be. I absolutely had to make the money or I couldn’t eat. But I had to go about it different.

When it happened, I had friends call me about it and I didn’t want to blame anyone but myself. The first step I took was to acknowledge that everything that happened was my responsibility.

The same day, I went for a walk. During my walk all I thought about was what I am grateful for now, even though I lost my primary source of income. I did lose my job but what else did I have. I have my health, my work ethic and an amazing support system that was available if I ever needed it. I realized I had so much to be grateful for that there was no reason to be mad.

A couple weeks later, I was making more income than I made in that gym and I was literally working 1/3 the hours. Plus I was working for myself and this is the best feeling I have ever had in my training career. The satisfaction I got from knowing that I can do well on my own without working for someone else is amazing.

To this day I now added another step to facing a setback. That step is to help someone else. Something bad happened to you? Great, now help someone else. This will pay dividends in the near future and it also puts a smile on your face knowing you were the reason someone accomplished something.

Be the first to help someone and see what happens later. I didn’t get it at first but through personal experience I know how much of an impact this can make on yourself and others.

This just goes to show that when one setback occurs another opportunity reveals itself. Ever hear the saying a breakdown can create a breakthrough? I’m telling you right now that it’s true and I’m pretty sure you have experienced it as well.

You never lose, you only learn. I remember when I lost my first competition in boxing. After the fight I threw my medal across the locker room. I wanted nothing to do with the “losers medal”. But my boxing coach pulled me back and said, “Keep that medal. One day you are going to be thankful for it.” To this day that has resonated with me. The learning experience that I got from that loss is responsible for the wins I get today. The only way I could’ve really lost is if I didn’t learn from the experience.

It’s good to welcome adversity and a bit of pain. The growth you get from it will bring you to places you would never expect. Believe it or not, you will actually be thankful for running into a setback. I know I was.

Let’s recap the steps to go through when facing a setback:

1. Acknowledge that you and no one else is to blame. Everything that happens to you is because of YOU.
2. Immediately think about or even write down what you are grateful for.
3. Learn from the experience; figure out where you went wrong. Apply whatever you learned into action. Don’t give up.
4. Go out of your way to help someone else.

Apply these steps and see how much of a difference it makes when facing a setback.

Remember to welcome any problems with open arms and have a “bring it” attitude to anything that stands in front of you.

To your success,

Andrew Raposo

P.S. Too many people are facing personal issues that can be easily resolved with the use of these steps. Do me a huge favour and share this post.  I would really appreciate it.

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