7 Tips to Overcoming Any Challenging Goal

Climbing Stairs as part of Leadership Training (Hehe no, that's not me)

If there was a challenge, and that is to climb 200 stories in an hour, would you accept it?

I was challenged, and I accepted. Not that I was confident about my fitness level, I had not been exercising for the longest time.

Somehow, I managed to convince myself that this would motivate me to actually start exercising. However, on the contradictory, nothing happened, I was 'too busy' to train. Soon after accepting the challenge, I have forgotten all about it. Even when I remembered, I had too many excuses to stop me, I just kept thinking I will prepare for the challenge tomorrow, but tomorrow never came.

Before I knew it, it was the day of the challenge.

I was really worried. I did not know how I was going to achieve it, especially without any training. Usually I would start panting after climbing just one flight of stairs, what more 200?! I calculated and it was 18 seconds per storey! And that’s if I do not rest and it does not include waiting time for lift!

I decided to climb up my HDB, which was 25 storeys high. This would mean climbing 8 times up + 8 more levels. I did not know whether I would make it, I prepared a drink and put it outside my house on the 21^st storey, and started the climb from level one.

I climbed and climbed. The climb was excruciating! Up, up, up. I climbed slowly, steadily, never rushing. The middle of the climb was tough. Inertia was strong. I could hear negative thoughts coming into my mind. That I should just rest. That I should not push myself. But I just kept climbing. The thought of having to redo this whole thing was too hard to imagine.

Somehow I survived through. When I was nearing the end, it got really tough. Every step felt like I was going against a very strong force. I did not stop. I knew if I did, I would never continue and I did not want to think of the consequence that followed.

To cut a long storey short, I surprised myself by making it till the end within the stipulated time! I felt a sense of pure happiness and lightness. Maybe it wasn't so bad after all. But then again, I still couldn't believe I actually climbed so high!

What I realised

The idea of climbing an impossible number of stairs can made equivalent to achieving a challenging goal.

For any challenging goal, no matter how much preparation you have, you will NEVER BE READY. You just have to do it and learn along the way! I did not prepare for the challenge, but somehow by sheer luck (or is it really?) I managed to do it.

How do you achieve a challenging goal

1. Know what you are doing it for

This is the most important. Before you set out to do something you find challenging, something which you may feel is unattainable, you got to know WHAT YOU ARE DOING ALL THESE FOR. It is important to know why you are investing your energy into it so that you will be able to reap your energy back.

For me, I accepted the challenge because I wanted to see whether my peserverance, determination, and mental strength is as strong as I think it is. I wanted to break my own mental boundaries and constraints. Usually there is a greater push, motivation than just for money, or for external achievements/attainments. Find out what really drives you, your deeper value to want to achieve that goal. Remember this as this value will be the source of your energy.

You may think your end goal is to be rich. But think deeper, what do you want the money for? Is it so that you can lead a life of freedom? If this is so, then you are working for freedom, not money. Having a greater value will keep you striving hard. As we know, many people with money are not necessary happy or free. Therefore it is extremely important to determine what drives you so that you will not end up climbing the wrong ladder.

2. Strategize- Be smart

While trying to achieve your goal, always be clear of circumstances you can control and those you can’t. Make those you can in your favor so it makes things a little easier for you. For me, I chose a block that I was comfortable with, and planned out my climb in such a manner that I would not spend any time waiting for the lift to come up so as to save time. I also chose to climb on a Sunday afternoon, where human traffic is less.

3. Keep your pace/ Push Yourself

No matter what happens, KEEP GOING. There will be high inertia at the beginning and end, if you realise that and manage to push past that, you will triumph over it, closer to your goal. This kind of reminds me of the story of the Hare and Tortoise. Despite all the difficulties, and his slowness, the tortoise never gave up! He carried on, slow and steady. It's true, slow and steady wins the race. Keep the momentum and as long as you are a step closer every day to your goal, it is progress! Having said that, having intensity is also extremely important. The key is to keep going while having the intensity! Do not make things too easy for yourself, it never works that way.

4. Shut out your mind

When you are tired, self-cherishing thoughts will come into the picture. You will start to feel tired, angry, resentment, etc. Do not hold on to/follow those thoughts! Be aware that you are having negative thoughts and let it go! Following your mind will lead you towards failure. If I had listened to my whiney mind which told me that I was too tired after the first 16th storey, I would have never made it that far. I realized that having an overactive mind also drains your energy. Therefore it is important to push your ego and mind aside while you pursue your goal.

5. Set a Stake for Yourself

I find this extremely important and helpful in allowing me achieve my goals. A stake is something you will have to forfeit if you do not achieve your goals. For me, my stake was my belief that I can do anything as well as having to redo the whole challenge. Whenever I felt like giving up, the thought of having to do this all over again just pushed me even harder, past my comfort zone.

6. Have a deadline

It is important to have a deadline so you will not keep pushing back your goal and procrastinating! For me, if the date was not set for me to climb those stairs, I would never had got to actually climbing it. I believe sometimes it also helps to have someone you have to answer to. Set a deadline for yourself and let someone you look up to know about it. This may help.

7. You can do it!

You don’t need to be this, that, etc etc to get something done. Just do it. Stop procrastinating. Stop giving yourself excuses. Most of the time, you learn while doing it. I kept thinking I must train, exercise etc to climb..but in the end, I could do even without. Though preparation is important, you should minimize giving yourself excuses and give yourself thousands of reasons to not embark on a challenge.

There is no right time, the right time is when you decided to start.

The pain of thinking of it and energy loss pushing it away is much worst than actually just doing it. Its not as bad as it seems.

What happens after you achieve your goal

And when you achieved your goal, the feeling is pure happiness. (: You will get a renewed sense of energy. You will look back in disbelief and new found respect for yourself. And what's most important is the process of getting there! See how much I have learnt just from climbing 200 storeys! I managed to write one whole entry on it!

Let's GO!

Have a clear goal, plan how you going to achieve it, know what you are doing it for, set a deadline, have a stake and go!!!

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Still confronted by your challenge? Why not give your confidence a boost by starting with climbing 200 stairs in an hour? You can do it! Take it as a physical and mental challenge. If you can do it, you will have no difficulty achieving your challenging goal because your willpower is there! The key to achieving anything is actually PERSEVERANCE! There I said it. =D

Do bear those tips in mind and good luck all, thanks for reading!