Skip to main content

Why working hard is sometimes needed to reach your goal

By 01/20/2017September 28th, 2017Project management

In this vlog I explain how sometimes you need to work harder, to persist in order to reach your goal. Knowing that there is always another way and that you will find if you seek.

The text below is an addition to the information in the video. You can watch/read them seperately if you like.

Hard working is not my usual way of doing things

If you know me a little you know that I favor the phrase effortlessly successful. Life nor business life should be hard and difficult.

But sometimes it is a little different.

In the video I explain that I am searching for a treasure (a geocache). Somewhere in this pile of rocks (stones) the treasure is hidden. That I know for sure, because my GPS tells me. In this metaphor my GPS is my intuition. I can do two things:

  1. If it doesn’t go easlily, it is not meant to be. I will search for a short while and then give up. Or abandon this path because it is not my path.
  2. I tell my self that I need to resist and that the hard work is a test to see if I really want it. It is challenge I have to take up. I have to keep searching until I will find the treasure.

When is working hard a signal that you are doing the wrong things?

You will run into the same kind of challenges in your daily (business) life. You have an idea or goal you want to reach (a treasure). You start going after it until you find yourself in a difficult situation, resistance or lacking energy. At that moment you can decide to quit and find another route or to change your goal or let go of it all. You can also chose to work a little harder, to overcome the obstacle and reach your goal by working harder.

Turn off the autopilot

During your life and influenced by all kind of factors you probably have developeda prefered approach in reacting to obstacles and tougher times. The challenge is to let go of this approach. Become aware of your automatic response, your autopilot and create more space, more freedom in your way of dealing with it.

As soon as you turned off your autopilot you will be able to decide more clearly what is the best response for you at this very moment in this specific situation. When you are not guided by previous experiences, anxieties and desires your intuition will be stronger and you will be able to listen to it. Both options (quiting or working harder) could be the intuitive right way. It depends.

To decide which option is right in this sitution it is important to turn off your autopilot and to tune in into your pure intuition. In my case the coordinates given by the geocaching website and my GPS told me that there was a treasure somewhere. This is the same as you intuitively knowing that there is a way to your goal. The whole point is to find out what is the source of your goal. Is it your ego telling you that you should do this, is it an old belief or pattern that you want to keep going or quit instead? Or is it your pure intuition that is telling you that there is a treasure to be found?

Martijn Meima in Sofia, Bulgaria business constellationsAnother example from my own business life is my second trip to Bulgaria. I knew and felt in all my veins that I had to be there. This was a deep intuitive knowing. But it could have also been my enthousiasm or my longing for adventure that was fueling this wish to be there. I also experienced resistance. There was no money involved. I had to pay for all my travel expenses and did not receive a trainers fee. I had to invest money and time while I was the one giving something (facilitating constellations).

By sitting still, letting go of my fears and desires I could sense that it was the right thing to do to go to Sofia, Bulgaria. Later it turned out that this was the start of many interesting international business opportunities.

Experiment and find out how this works for you

My tip is to start experimenting. Keep a journal in which you note these moments and that what your intuition is telling you (or what you think it is telling you). Looking back at it later with the knowledge you then have, it makes more sense and you will learn how your intuition works in these situations. You will also learn what your autopilot is and how to turn it off. Sometimes you need to look back after a long time (1 or even more years) and sometimes things are clear after a shorter period.

I would love to hear how you are dealing with obstacles and what your autopilot is. Please leave a comment with your experience.

 

2 Comments

  • Tisho says:

    Hi,
    Thanks for the vlog and blog, it was enriching my personal ideas on the topics.

    In the past 1.5 year I have been going through a great deal of emotional ups and downs, resistances, hesitations.
    Also I took on a big decision – to move to a new country and live there and see and feel how is it.
    It was scary and appealing at the same time. And so I did it. 8 months into the journey, I can say that I learned so much about myself than ever before. Or at least it seems so. And I experienced great deal of support and intuitive drives and letting things go and allowing them to arrange by a natural or outside of me order.
    I was surprised and amazed how much new and great things are possible when I let go of desire, conscious work towards goals and control of things.
    In the past 12 months I achieved several goals that before I thought impossible or too far away for me to achieve.
    I have had 3-4 major successes without working hard for them, but just putting them as a question and how or who can make it possible for me to get/have that or this.
    I asked the Universe for it, and it provided it. And this helps me become more calm and confident that what needs to happen will happen – sooner or later. And also to make simple, clear and specific the things I would wish. Because, some of the things I got or achieved happened to be not what I really wanted. It is enriching journey, not always easy and comfortable, yet I am connecting with the notion of effortless openness and allowing space for things to unfold.

    • Thanks for sharing, Tisho. Great to read that you have reached so many things without working hard, but with expanding your comfort zone. And yes, the results you get are not always the results you thought you wanted. Most of the time it comes better than you could imagine.

Leave a Reply


This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.