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Keeping Motivated
Success In The Face Of Adversity

One of my own personal pieces of inspiration comes from watching the Paralympic games and learning the stories of hardship behind the smiles of success. To be able to be inspired, people need to believe that what you are doing or saying is within their own personal grasp. One of the keys to successfully convincing people is to give your own background on how you personally overcame adversity, a sort of before and after story.

When I am coaching women in particularly challenging situations, I make a point of referring to the time I found myself as a single mother of two young children, going through divorce and having to cope with a full time job, depleted financial resources and coping with a health-challenged child. Slowly and surely I rebuilt new foundations to become the successful person I am today. People need to hear about your journey for you to be their inspiration and you need to hear about others’. I frequently use Oprah Winfrey as one of my personal sources of inspiration, as she often recalls her modest beginnings, hardship, mistakes and challenges and this is really what makes her so inspirational and appealing to others. People need to be able to say ‘if she can do it, then so can I’. Being inspirational does not come from being born into a position of power and then preaching about what you’ve always been and had.

Being inspirational is a Martin Luther King or a Barack Obama who used his adversity as a driver for success. Michele Obama knew exactly what she was doing during the 2012 presidential campaign when she repeatedly said “we have never forgotten where we came from.” You will be inspirational if you get buy-in to your recipe for success. In the same way, the opposite is also true. Why would you listen to someone giving you advice on how to bring up your children, cope with divorce, manage your money and manage future relationships, unless they can say: “I’ve been there, I know what it feels like and I can show you how to get to the light at then end of your dark tunnel”? Women who have been through challenging times and have succeeded in spite of those obstacles, show us that is really IS possible, it’s just a question of having a “plan”. If you develop the strategy and then find the inspiration to follow through, you will succeed whatever life throws at you. Remember a candle glows twice as brightly in the dark; you just need to find the match to light the candle.

My Tip of the month:

If you are trying to inspire people towards positive change, then make sure you have some positive examples of your own to show the challenges that you have overcome personally. If you are seeking advice, then take mentoring or coaching from someone who’s been there and is the living and walking proof of having overcome those challenges.

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Judy can be contacted by email on judy.churchill@orange.fr or via her website www.Judychurchill.com