How to be Like Rocky in Tough Times & Succeed

Four steps to success

I’ve had two tunes playing in my head recently: ‘There may be trouble ahead’ and the ‘Rocky Training Montage’.

There maybe tough times ahead but I know I’ve certainly had the T-shirt, worn it and succeeded before. Some people and businesses are going to be resilient and thrive over the coming months. Here are 4 steps to help you succeed too:

1.Get Used to Rejection and Failure

I get the Rocky Training Montage ear worm, when I am building resilience, being brave, strong and working towards success. I even hum it on the rare occasion I find myself on the treadmill.

The back story to the Rocky movies is that Sly Stallone tried and failed many times to get a producer to take on his film. He experienced lots of rejection but did not let that stop him. I have felt like Rocky too over the last 4 months; dragging my manuscript around publishing houses and experiencing more no’s than yeses.

When we experience a ‘no’ or rejection, studies demonstrate that the same regions of the brain responsible for pain light up. The uncomfortable feelings we get are real.

Just yesterday I saw birthday party pictures on social media for one of my daughter’s ‘close’ friends. They included the usual gang, minus my daughter. The adult in me said, ‘We can’t all be invited to everything and we are entitled to choose’. The child in me thought ‘Bar Stewards’ as I reflected on all the playdates, parties and lifts that have gone this family’s way.

It could have been an ‘administration error’ ha haa, I’m really pushing it now. The bottom line is I felt physically sick about my daughter being excluded. I wallowed on her behalf (she doesn’t even know about it) and moaned to my husband for 10 minutes; then I dusted myself off.

Therefore, when the economy is bleak, there will be a fair few rejections. Don’t let them define you. Dust yourself off. Move on. Keep going like Rocky. With every rejection, you are one step closer to success. I am in possession of four book publishing deals currently. I am staying optimistic about a fifth.

2.Be Clear on Your Direction of Travel

Rocky knew he wanted to win the fight. Knowing that defined all his actions and his direction of travel.

Sometimes we accidently end up at ‘Destination Grim’. We don’t intentionally get there. Who chooses to fail, be miserable or stressed?

In my book I talk about ‘Yellow Car Syndrome’. When I bought a yellow car, I thought it was quite unique. Guess what? It wasn’t. Suddenly, I started noticing the other yellow cars on the road.

We get more of what we focus on people!

Therefore, to avoid destination grim and getting negative results, focus on what you want instead. What is the positively stated goal or vision? What is the destination? What would ‘Destination Joy’ look, sound and feel like?

3.Build Resilience

Once Rocky had set his goal, he knew it was going to be tough and that to survive he needed to be strong. Now, I’m not suggesting for one minute that you start pounding the streets in sweatpants shouting ‘Adrian’, but there are some things you can do to build your resilience:

• If you prioritise anything, prioritise your sleep, because it impacts on what you eat and how you move the following day. Maintain good sleep hygiene habits. If you’re like my furloughed friend who enjoyed 11 straight hours whilst she was off, this message isn’t for you. Most adults need 8 hours. During sleep your body repairs and re-energises. Lockdown certainly blurred the work / sleep / personal time boundaries for me, and I became less resilient. A routine and time boundaries helped fix this.
• Put good fuel in. I once read an article entitled, ‘Donuts make you angry’. Sadly, it is true. Rubbish fuel = rubbish energy = rubbish state of mind. You’re not going to win with a loser state of mind.
• Move your body. Not only does this lengthen your life, moving helps reduce stress, (especially if you can get out in green space) and break out of negative states of mind.
• Take care of your mental health. It has already been tough. Everyone I speak to has suffered in one way or another. Give yourself a break (literally) at weekends and during the evenings. Offload with a trusted friend or be like Rocky and get a coach.

4.Take Positive Action

When things are tough, we can slip into victim mentality…and it is OK to sit in your sweat pants for a while and do some naval gazing — especially if you are taking care of your mental and physical wellbeing, but there comes a point when you have to start taking action and ‘face the music and dance’. Otherwise we are waiting for someone to come and rescue us — and we are not in control of other people’s actions, right?

One of my life motto’s is, ‘All you can do is take positive action’.

Just like Rocky, if we are clear about our intentions, keep the faith, dust ourselves off from failure and rejection and move on, we will see success. Taking constructive action puts you back in the driving seat. When we take action we feel empowered; we are no longer the victim. We succeed. We win.

If any of these topics piqued your interest and you want to explore this further with me, why not book a Free Coaching Discovery Session?