There are a ton of weak people these days…
We live in times of enormous opportunities and this is one of the greatest times to be alive if you want to create a better life. The internet has created opportunities that our parents couldn’t even dream of! Life, in general, is about as good as it has ever been!
However, there is a dark side to it.
There’s an old saying:
“Hard times create strong men. Strong men create good times. Good times create weak men. Weak men create hard times.”
Right now we are at the point where we have a lot of weak men and women. Because things have been going so well, people are not used to hardships and they can’t handle it that well.
Let’s quickly examine some of the main causes and then move into how you can become a strong person capable of creating the future you desire!
Bad Parenting
How someone is raised matters a lot obviously.
The main problem with a lot of parents these days is that they try to protect their children way too much. And they do this to the extreme and in a way where it sets up their children for failure!
Things like:
- Setting unrealistic expectations of what they can achieve or what it takes to achieve something
- Losing doesn’t exist! 16th place trophy anyone?
- Telling them how “special” they are constantly
- Shielding their kids from every bit of criticism and negativity
Heck, as I’m walking to the office I just saw not one but two of those bikes with a sort of tent on the front. Their kids are apparently too precious to handle a bit of rain or wind and too good to cycle to school themselves.
It’s what I like to call glazier parenting.
These parents turn their children into glass versions of themselves. Pretty and precious, but a single pebble or tumble and it completely scatters! It could be loss, negativity, failure, or anything else that could happen to a child, and they will scatter like they’re a piece of glass!
You may or may not have had an upbringing like that.
The problem is that at some point, the parental shield isn’t there anymore. And because people have not experienced even the smallest of setbacks, they have no clue on how to handle negativity!
People Can’t Handle Challenges
Many people today are great starters…
They have no problems at all about starting to go to the gym, starting to read, starting a business, starting to study, starting to eat well, etc. Oh yes, we’re definitely good at getting started with new things!
But boy oh boy… are we terrible at finishing things!
With New Year’s around the corner (as of my writing this), you only need to look at resolutions to understand what I’m saying. The first week of the year, gyms are packed! But after a few weeks, most people will have quit already!
People don’t know how to handle challenges!
You’re completely fine doing something… until something bad happens or there is an obstacle! When people realize that the goal they set for themselves are hard to accomplish, they give up! But it’s more than just giving up on a certain goal.
It’s a lack of understanding about life!
Personally, I love my challenges, obstacles and problems!
The reason is that I know those are the things that will make me a much better person. To me, they are just stepping stones for greater success. The reason why most people can’t look at it this way is that we’re told that failing at something or walking into a figurative wall is a bad thing.
Fall in Love With Your Challenges
You need to love your challenges and obstacles if you want to succeed at a higher level!
One of the comparisons that I like to make is about video games. The problems and challenges that you face are like bosses in a video game. They may be intimidating, but it is necessary that you face them, because you will never reach the next level if you don’t!
I love to tell the story of Sara Blakely ever since I heard of it.
When she was a kid, her dad used to ask her and her brother what they failed at every week. Her dad would be genuinely disappointed if they didn’t fail at anything that week! Sara’s dad realized something that not too many people do, which is that failure is a great thing!
So what can you do to benefit?
The first thing you should do is to change your idea about failure. Realize that the obstacles in your way are not there to stop you, they are there to help you become the person you need to become to reach your goals! You may “fail”, but it is not defeat, because you know that it is only feedback.
It’s just a sign that you need to improve something in your strategy and try again.
Next:
I want you to go into situations purely with the intent to learn.
Especially when you do something new, don’t dive in with the goal to perform at a high level. By doing that you’re putting a lot of pressure on yourself. When you tell yourself to go in with an open mind and with the main goal of learning something new, the outcome becomes irrelevant!
Which takes all the pressure off your shoulders!
And finally, it is simply this:
Fall in love with your challenges and fail at something at least once per week.
Trust me, you’ll be amazed at the progress you’ll make in your life when you do that consistently for a couple of months! You will learn more in a couple of months than you did in the past 3 years, you will have expanded your comfort zone significantly and you’ll be confident in situations where you weren’t before!
