Survival > Growth > Contribution - The path to freedom Part 2 : Becoming the Hero

This is part 2 of a 3 part series exploring the evolution of "problems" as we move from survival, to growth, to contribution. Choosing better problems will lead you to greater freedom and fulfillment in your life.

The path to freedom Part 1 : Own your Life
The path to freedom Part 3 : Becoming the Guide

You may be wondering why we are focused on problems. Shouldn't we try to avoid problems?

Actually, no. That's the opposite of what we should do if we want to grow and succeed.

The first step to moving beyond problems of survival and out of captivity is to take responsibility for everything in our lives. Whether it's our fault or not, we can only be free when we fully accept our situation as it is and choose a new response.

This is also the first step of choosing problems of growth and becoming the hero of your own story. 

Problems of Growth:

 If we let them, problems of survival will keep us spinning on the hamster wheel living paycheck to paycheck— running ever faster and never making progress.

So what's the solution?

Here are five amazing tools to help you move beyond problems of survival and become the hero of your own story.

• Focus on what you can control: Too much brain capacity is consumed with worry about things we can't control or that may never happen. An essential step in becoming the hero of your story is to only expend mental energy on what you can control. To begin practicing this, simply ask yourself anytime you begin to worry or stress "What am I trying to control that's not within my control?" and then "What action can I take right now that is in my control?". This is a simplified version of the Genius Move from the book The Genius Zone by Dr. Gay Hendricks (Amazon Affiliate) 
• Work as hard or harder on yourself than you do on your job. Always be learning something new. If you're reading this, you're most likely already good at this one. But one way to tell a problem of growth is whether it's challenging you. Is it pushing you past your current understanding or abilities? One of the best ways to move out of problems of survival is to become a better version of yourself. You do that by working on problems you don't already know how to solve, aka. problems of growth. As my mentor Richie Norton likes to say "Goals inside experience are tasks. Goals outside experience are growth." If you want more out of life, you have to become more. So start choosing problems that force you to grow.
• Choose better problems. We've been trained to think that working harder is the solution to every problem. Though hard work is great, working hard on the wrong things or the same old thing won't necessarily lead to better results. Sometimes working harder is just moving faster in the wrong direction. So before we start running, we need to decide what our goal really is and then go to work finding solutions to achieve it. If you're tempted to think of all the external forces that are blocking your path: money, connections, know how. Just consider that anytime you blame an external force as the reason you can't, haven't or won't achieve something, you have placed yourself into the victim role of your story instead of the hero. So what can YOU do? Who can YOU call? What can YOU learn? Take back the power and start taking action.
• Leverage the compound effect with consistent, positive action. This probably seems obvious. But the really key to success in any endeavor is progress, not perfection. Consistency leads to momentum which compounds your small, seemingly insignificant actions into amazing results. From the outside looking in, it will appear like an overnight transformation. But you'll know the truth. There is no substitute for consistency when it comes to growth.
• Measure the gain. Count every step of progress as a win and start celebrating the hero identity you are creating in your life. This can be as a simple as checking off a daily calendar like the one found on our free Habit Tracker or any other way you want to measure your progress. Check out episode #102: Escape The Gap Trap for more info on this.

I guarantee as you begin employing these tools, you will see a major transformation in your confidence and life. When coupled with a driving purpose or vision, there is nothing that can stop you from growing into a better version of yourself and becoming the hero of your own story. 

We would love to know how you implement these tools in your life and the impact they have. Email us at [email protected] with your feedback/results. Or let us know if we can be of service in helping you implement these tools in your life. We'll give a free 30 minutes consultation with an invitation to 1on1 coaching. So hit us up.

Next week we'll share ideas on creating the ultimate freedom in your life by focusing on problems of contribution.

All the best in becoming the hero of your own story.