Have you ever noticed that whatever you focus on seems to come to fruition? Whether positive or negative, your area of focus becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Are you looking for opportunities or obstacles?

I am currently doing 75 hard and I encountered my first really big challenge this week. I live in Iowa and, as usual, we had a March blizzard. For 75 hard, you have to complete one outdoor workout per day. Yep, that means I had to workout outside in frigid temps — 16 degrees with 40 MPH wind chill, to be exact. Was this ideal? Was this my idea of fun? Was it something I was looking forward to? Absolutely not! Could I have chosen to focus on how uncomfortable and impossible it would be to workout in frigid temps and decided to skip it and give up on my challenge? You betcha! HOWEVER — I shifted my focus to completing this workout in less-than-ideal conditions. I looked at the weather, identified the warmest part of the day, drug out my fleece tights, and coordinated the warmest layered outfit I could find. I intentionally found a workout that would be the best for these conditions. I didn’t focus on how miserable it was going to be outside; I focused on ways to get this workout in safely. I reframed my mindset, looking at this as an opportunity instead of an obstacle. The universe delivered because at the same time I was getting ready to go outside to workout, the sun came out and stayed out for my entire workout. Ironic, don’t you think (any Alanis Morisette fans out there?!)? The sun coming out is a PERFECT example of manifesting what we focus on. It’s why visualization is so powerful.

A prior version of me would have not thought working outside in these conditions would possible or something that I would even entertain. When we do what we think is the impossible, we level up. We increase our resilience, grit, mindset, and so much more. This is my second time around at 75 Hard, and I can say with confidence if this would have happened last time, I definitely wouldn’t have been thinking so positively and would have chosen to quit. Now I’m sitting here thinking, “Wow, I just completed something I never thought I was capable of doing. What can I do next?!”

Think back on some experiences and situations you have been in — what was the outcome? What did you focus on? What examples did you find to support what you were focused on? How would that situation/outcome have been different if you focused on what you could do instead of what you couldn’t? What would happen if, just once, you decided to focus on the positives and opportunities? You might surprise yourself at the possibilities you encounter.