Choose Gratitude Even In The Face of Challenge

"One of the things I learned the hard way was that it doesn’t pay
to get discouraged. Keeping busy and making optimism
a way of life can restore your faith in yourself."
– Lucille Ball, American comedienne

In Issue #220

Main Essay: Choose Gratitude Even In The Face of Challenge
By Monica Day

It’s easy to be grateful for the more obvious things in life – that you have enough food to eat, a roof over your head, and people who love you.

But this holiday season, I’m also choosing to exercise what I call “radical gratitude.”

So …

 … for the latest person who didn’t treat me with respect, I’m grateful. I’m learning how to expect more from the people in my life, and take a hard look at why I sometimes settle for less.

 … for the latest financial hardship brought on by my divorce, I’m grateful. It’s teaching my ex and I how to work together and forge a healthier new relationship by breaking the habits and patterns that ended our marriage in the first place.

 … for the slow process of recovery from surgery and the limited mobility I have in my foot, I’m grateful. It’s teaching me deep lessons about patience and humility and loving parts of myself that are broken as much as the ones that are whole – lessons that are relevant to every other area of my life.

Radical gratitude is when you take a hard look at the challenges in your life – it might be a struggle with your own bad habits, a difficult person who makes your life miserable, financial hardships, or health challenges – and be grateful for those, too.

Every situation in our life stimulates our growth. Often, people who choose to succeed or make a change in their lives do so in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds. It is those very challenges that make our success so sweet in the end.

Imagine standing at the foot of Mt. Everest, preparing for the climb of your life. You face many harrowing feet – sometimes with courage, sometimes with fear, and sometimes just crawling on your belly, praying to make it just one more inch. Finally, you reach the top. As you stand there, victorious, surveying the vast country below … is it possible to not be grateful for the mountain?

I think not.

This holiday season, take a minute to appreciate the mountains in your life – as much as, if not more, than the places of comfort and grace—and see for yourself if exercising radical gratitude doesn’t lead you into radical success in the months and years ahead.

Resource Referral: Adapting to the Economic Challenges Ahead

Not much good comes from complaining – even though most of us do it from time to time. But at this time of making resolutions, and looking ahead at how to turn a gloomy economic forecast into a sunny one for you and your family – you can’t give in to complaining and worrying, Instead, you have to innovate and adapt.

Look for new trends and cast your marketing line in those waters. Find new sources for clients, and better approaches at landing them. Of all the things that are shrinking, many marketing budgets are actually increasing! Businesses know they have to work harder to get and keep their customers. For marketing-minded people like us, that’s good news.

Consider getting yourself a gift now that you’ve given everyone else one! The Copy Protégé offers two publications that can help:

How To Find The Worlds Best Ideas …

This course reveals one of the direct response industry’s most-guarded secrets. You can use it to turn anything – any product, service, idea, or concept –into an unprecedented, multimillion dollar, vote-getting, mind-changing, passionate, compelling, raging success …

But because it’s also incredibly simple – obvious even – almost no one thinks to use it! That’s why those few who do know how to put this secret to work in their copy rise to the top so quickly – and their income soars with them.

Just by clicking here right now, you’ll have the edge. Immediately. At your fingertips. In fact, in the next 10 minutes, you could have what it takes to join the ranks of the most successful, wealthiest, most persuasive people in the world …

Elance Success for Writers …

I know, I know … word on the street is that it’s not possible to make a living on Elance. But Angie Dixon proved it wrong – and wrote an ebook on how she did it. In fact, she was able to use her Elance profits to launch other business ventures she really wanted to do – in just a few short months.

There are still naysayers – but as someone who also launched my career using job boards, I know she’s right – and her system is sound.

Find out how you can do it too – in just a few short months you could be earning a solid $5,000 a month, working with clients you like, on projects you love, and still having time and energy left over to enjoy your life.

Check these resources out … and stay tuned for information on our new and improved Copy Protégé Mentoring Program in 2009!

Quick Career Tip: Use Everything You Learn

You’re not going to like the question I have for you today. But I’m going to ask it anyway …

What if your new career in copywriting doesn’t pan out?

There, I said it. Out loud. And I’m going to answer it, too.

This shadow of a doubt lingers in the back of even the most positive and optimistic thinkers among us. But the truth is: it doesn’t matter whether you become successful as a copywriter or not.

What matters is that you learn something of value from the process of trying, and apply those lessons to all the endeavors in your life. That way, your success becomes the 100% guaranteed outcome for your efforts, no matter what.

Just think about all the things you are already learning:

This is just the beginning of a very long list of things you’ll learn as you try to switch or start a career as a copywriter – or any new venture – that can most likely be applied to any endeavor.

So be mindful as you find your way through this maze of a dream life we call copywriting. You might find it fits perfectly – or it might be more like Cinderella’s glass slipper on one of the stepsisters. But don’t be discouraged by what you discover. As long as you apply every single lesson you learn along the way, your time and effort won’t go to waste. Because the ultimate ingredient for success in any venture is to make mistakes, learn from them, and keep going until you find the right business opportunity for you.