“Start where you are, use what you have, do what you can”

Arthur Ashe put it best when he shared these thoughts about taking on challenges.

Whether confronting an opponent on the tennis court or trying to bring about radical change in your life, I suspect that the same principles apply.

Take the leap… (Credit: Ady April)

Working to achieve something is hard. Battling adversity as we work on a project, or just in day-to-day life is even harder. Progress demands seeing beyond the frustrations and fears that strike on a daily basis. Staying the course requires that we put aside frustrations over results and improvements that come infrequently and on a smaller scale than might be desirable.

When such hurdles occur in my life, and I‘m able to view them objectively, it seems to me that they come from three main sources:

1. Annoyance that I’m not starting from a better position where the results and rewards flow regularly — A reluctance to accept where I am.
2. Frustration that my results feel woefully inadequate and disproportionate to the considerable efforts I’m putting in and the sacrifices I’m making — Refusal to simply ‘do’ without being fixated on the outcomes.
3. Demoralisation that everywhere I look there are the others who seem to find life easy, who don’t suffer the same discontent and frustration that I do —…