Like a wheel, life goes round and round. Holding it all together is your framework, which you’ve been building up your entire life. If one spoke breaks, you weaken as a result. To keep the ride — your life journey — from getting thrown out of whack, strengthen your life’s spokes by growing and accepting.
The wheel of life, and the spokes supporting it
The wheel of life has spokes. These spokes support the wheel in many ways, including the additional weight added on during tough times. What’s important to remember is everybody’s spokes are different, and that’s okay. We all have our own distinct goals. To get you through hardships, which can happen at any point in your life, your spokes must be solid. If not, it’s going to be one hell of a ride.
For me, my business has always been a consistent spoke. Your business or career is something you have a lot of control over. It has kept me grounded and stopped me from going astray. If you’re still looking for spokes to support your wheel, I urge you to make one your business or career. I’ve been running businesses for many years now, and so far, focusing on operating, growing and scaling my business has helped me avoid many of life’s abrupt potholes.
Have a growth mindset
Nobody’s perfect. At the end of the day, we’re all unfinished products — each and every one of us. There’s always more to learn and opportunities to pursue. The good news is this: If you’re willing to develop yourself as a person, you’ll not only acquire more knowledge but learn more about yourself in the process. When you grow as an individual, your business thrives, and when your business flourishes, you, your employees and everyone else around you prosper. Even though keeping an open mind is challenging for many of us, it’s important we practice this concept on an ongoing basis. It’s what helps us move out of our comfort zones, away from what we know and toward opportunity.
No one gets through life unscathed
My mom had a lot of great sayings, many of which I’ve been lucky enough to pass along to my own children. I often repeat one of her maxims when things aren’t going so well — as a reminder to myself that we all go through ups and downs in life. No matter who you are or where you come from, obstacles arise daily. My mom spoke the truth when she said, “No one gets through life unscathed.”
The older I get, the more often I find myself returning to her insightful words to help get me through hardships. Life was a lot easier when I was younger when I think about it — fewer problems, setbacks, and tragedies. Now, many years later, having had to push through adversity throughout my entire life, I’m a lot wiser (at least, I think so) and can bounce back from setbacks a lot quicker than someone a lot younger than me. I’ve learned to keep my core strong by building a foundation for me to live by.
Life has a plan of its own. We can do our best to steer clear of obstacles, but we’ll never fully avoid them all. The key to overcoming challenges is having a strong foundation of support. We strengthen this framework by having a growth mindset and accepting the fact we all endure hardships.