Grow Bigger Than Your Challenges

By declaring your goal, whatever it may be, you arehave to pay taxes on the store he owned - or so he
taking the first step toward achieving it. Taking that firstthought.
step is a good start. But, the very instant you makeHe ended being fined an enormous sum of money,
the decision and take the step, something is going towith his only options being to pay his fine or go to
come up - a challenge that you will likely need to face.prison. Branson made what appeared to be a crazy
It could be a fear, an obstacle, or an external challengedecision. His solution was to open another store to
or circumstance you didn't foresee.make more revenue to pay his fines.
When fears, obstacles and circumstances arise, it'sIn that instant, he chose to grow bigger than his
easy to go into panic mode and contract and retreat. Ifproblem.
you do this, you will end up feeling like you've tried andThat is partly what makes him such a successful
failed. And when you feel like that, you're actuallybusinessman, and such a tremendous contributor to
worse off than when you started. In addition to notsociety on a global scale.
achieving the goal that you wanted, you're also leftTo make an impact like that, you have to learn to be
feeling bad about yourself.comfortable with managing your fears and challenges.
Here's something truly valuable you need to learnWhen you encounter an obstacle, grow bigger than
about change. It's so important to grow bigger thanthe problem. When you learn to do this, nothing is out
your obstacles or unwanted circumstances.of your reach.
This is what people who are consistently successfulWhen obstacles and challenges and fear come into
do. They take the step. They still experience theplay, you need to find new ways to handle them. Ask
obstacle, fear or external circumstance that comes up.yourself, "What do I need to learn? What do I need to
But, instead of shrinking, successful people make ado differently in order to fully step into my new life?"
decision. They choose to grow bigger than theirThe instant you do, the solutions will become visible.
problems. They expand - and the solution becomesThey may well have been there all along, but you
visible.couldn't see them before. As you grow bigger than
Richard Branson, a hugely successful businessmanyour problems, new opportunities will appear because
who is admired by many, went through this scenarioyou are doing things differently.
early in his career. He found a loophole where he didn't