What you do in the BAD TIMES matters far more than what you do in the GOOD TIMES.

We ALL experience struggle. We ALL have moments of failure. We ALL have challenges. We ALL have days where we simply just don’t FEEL like doing the things we know we should. We all probably have days where we just don’t feel like doing much of anything at all.

I’ve been going through a tough few weeks, and quite honestly, a tough few months. I’ve had problems with dry eye. I had a medical scare in August, and had to have a procedure done. I lost a client that I was expecting to sign, after a few months of discussions. I’ve gained some weight. My 200th half marathon weekend did not go as planned. The list goes on. This is REAL LIFE.

We ALL fall down. How we get back up is what defines us. I’ve noticed over the past 2 weeks that I’ve started to feel EVEN worse about myself and my life. This morning, I realized, I’ve probably been MAKING this tough period in my life worse BECAUSE of how I’ve been REACTING to this tough period. I stopped doing 2 of my key routines (my daily high-performance morning planner and my weekly WIGS) as consistently as I usually do. Why? Well, because I just haven’t FELT like it.

When we’re struggling, and the chips are down- there is NOT a more important time for us to STILL live by our routines and keep our good habits. If we do- we’ll turn things around. If we don’t- then our week of struggle can turn into a month. A month of struggle turns into a year. A year of struggle can turn into a lifetime.

What we do during BAD TIMES defines us.

Having a vision or mission statement can really help with this. These statements describe our identity. They describe who we want to BE, what we want to be known for. They are something we can ANCHOR ourselves to. My personal mission statement talks about how I weather the storm. My vision talks about how I embrace challenges, failures, and struggle. How I choose to learn from them. While I may not have lived that mission well over the last week or two, the reason it’ll ONLY be a week or two is because I HAVE the mission statement. When I passed by it this morning, I was reminded of who I am, and who I strive to be. I reminded myself that it’s totally up to ME to get myself BACK ON TRACK- and quickly.

Expect challenges, failures, struggles, mistakes, and difficult times. Those come for ALL of us. Most of us have had those in the past, and we’ll have them AGAIN. You can choose to prepare yourself for them in the good times. You can choose to figure out who you will BE when they happen, and how you will respond. That will determine most everything in the rest of your life. But don’t expect everyday to be calm and peaceful, full of only sunshine and rainbows. That’s just not realistic. Instead, plan for how you’ll handle them- when they do occur.

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