The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. – Martin Luther King, Jr.
As we both stay committed to our 5-minute daily journaling (we shared the beginning of this adventure in our last blog), today we want to share the impact of having a personal challenge to work on. The only way one can truly grow is by challenging yourself…whether it be challenging your abilities or your beliefs. In the words of Martin Luther King, Jr., “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” Challenges lead to personal growth and improvement.
Future visioning (a tenet and tool of solution-focused practice) and creating the life that you want requires stepping out of your comfort zone – that’s where we really learn and grow. A weekly challenge can help you go there. A weekly challenge doesn’t have to be big or difficult, but something with intentionality – breaking out of the daily grind.
You may choose to have a personal “challenge of the day”, or a “challenge of the week”…whichever you prefer and is helpful to you.
Here are 10 challenges that we’ve been trying:
- Be mindful and practice being present in the moment.
- Get adequate and good quality sleep.
- Start reading a new book. (One that we’ve both recently started is Atomic Habits by James Clear)
- State one daily affirmation for positive self talk. (You won’t want to miss our next post where we elaborate more on this).
- Write a text, email, or hand written message to someone you truly care about to let them know.
- Curtail expectations of others.
- Do a random act of kindness.
- Give someone a compliment.
- Say no. If something doesn’t work for you, just say no.
- Start a 5-minute journal (hey, we’re doing good with this one and learning ALOT!)
Do you think this approach can help your clients create the future that they want? Let us know your experiences and successful personal challenges that are helpful to you or your clients.
If you are a health care professional and interested in learning more about our solution-focused practice and approach, when you subscribe to our blog, we’ll send you in return a FREE resource of 10 Solution-Focused Questions to start a solution-focused discussion with your clients.
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Deb is employed by Dexcom, but her words and opinions in this blog are her own.
Tami is employed by the University of Kentucky HealthCare Barnstable Brown Diabetes Center, but her words and opinions in this blog are her own.
