Perseverance 101: Drastic Results Call for Drastic Action

The word drastic is defined as “acting with force; violent” or “extremely severe or extensive.”

The definitions are nothing if not extreme themselves. Drastic even.

My own definition of drastic (straight from “Joi’s Southern Dictionary”) is this: A situation is drastic when nothing you throw at it sticks.

Unfortunately drastic situations can (and often do) show up anywhere. And everywhere:

• finances
• weight
• relationships
• time management
• household duties
• chores
• golf course
• schoolwork
• yard work
• workplace
• health
• baseball field
• etc…

The tougher the opponent (re-read drastic‘s definition to remind yourself of its toughness), the tougher YOU have to be. If your enemy is proving that it can stand the test of time, it may be time to switch up your approach.

Throw something tougher at it and see if it sticks.

A few examples (because who doesn’t like examples?):

Weight. If you struggle with your weight – or, more precisely, if the scale refuses to budge in the acceptable direction – it may be time to step up your efforts… maybe even WAY up.

• Cut bread out entirely. No wheat bread, white bread, or rye bread. Zero, with no cheating. You’d be amazed how many calories bread unnecessarily sneaks into your body.  As a bonus, when you aren’t “allowed” bread, fast food is almost entirely cut out.
• Add a 30 minute walk into your day – without fail. No excuses allowed.  If the weather says, “Oh, no you don’t,” drive to the mall and say, “Oh, yes I do.”
• If it’s nearly impossible to work in 30 minutes of walking or exercising into your day, get up an hour earlier, and move that body for at least half of the 60 minutes.
• If you’re already walking (or exercising) 30 minutes each day, crank it up to an hour.  Sometimes what WORKED stops WORKING and you have to WORK more.

Sports or Hobbies.  If your hobby, sport, or favorite pastime refuses to succumb to your best efforts, first of all, consider better equipment.  We can only be as good as the tools we use. I may be one of the only women in the world who encourages her golfing husband to buy better golf clubs. If you’re going to spend time on a hobby, you might as well do it right. If you aren’t doing as well as you’d like in your game (or hobby) of choice, maybe it’s because you aren’t setting yourself up for success.

Photography is another area where your results are directly related to your equipment.

If your equipment is about as good as it gets, ask yourself, “How much time am I putting into it?”  The answer may shock you. If you aren’t devoting time to honing your craft, how in the world is it supposed to get better?!

If your equipment is about as good as it gets and you’re putting in a respectable amount of time, you might be a golden candidate for a few lessons or classes. An expert (teacher, instructor, coach..) may hold your key to success.

These are, of course, just a few examples.  Irregardless of the situation, the approach is pretty much the same – if what you’re throwing isn’t sticking, change up your approach.

1. Throw more.
2. Throw harder.
3. Catch it off guard.

If there’s something that makes the fight a little tougher for you (health issues, medicinal side-effects, financial restraints…), you’re going to have to grab a big shovel and dig deep.  Basically, you can either use an obstacle as a reason to try harder or as a reason to quit.

I once read about a woman with diabetes that very, very, very difficult to manage. Her moods, along with her sugar, would fly all over the place. She had to devise a system to control her emotions (and mouth!) before she drove everyone she loved away.

If you have extenuating circumstances, you will have to fight a little harder than the next person but it will, in the end, make you a little stronger than the next person.

Bottom Line: Other than acts of God, drastic situations only respond to one thing – Drastic actions.  They’re like werewolves that can only be killed with one bullet – a silver bullet. Think about your own personal werewolves and see how many silver bullets you can come up with.

“Drastic results call for drastic action!”

 Keep reaching!
~ Joi