Stephen Adéle

The Power Principle: Transforming Obstacles into Strategies for Success

How to Quickly and Easily Overcome Any Roadblock—to Achieve Whatever You Want in Life (Including Building Your Absolute Best Body!)

by Stephen Adele | Editor-in-Chief

I would like to share with you a very personal story. A story I believe illustrates the importance of learning how to overcome those challenges that confront us in life.

I'm referring to those roadblocks, which unfortunately, as we're traveling through life, can severely blindside us and throw us off course. These might be events, habits, or friends that can prevent us from ever building a better body.

What I am about to share with you was private and confidential, up till now. The reason is, it's a personal story of how a single event turned my life upside down, yet as a result, I somehow was able to remarkably uncover one the most life-changing skills I will probably ever learn. A skill so powerful it can transform obstacles into strategies for success. It can mold roadblocks into pathways for success.

You see, if there's any one universal truth about our lives, it's this: it's nearly impossible to walk through life unscathed. In other words, whether large or small, we cannot travel through life untouched—without facing some sort of a situation or event that challenges us. An obstacle that stops us dead in our tracks and prevents us from moving forward. It happens to all of us at one time or another. Whether it's as severe as a tragic event, such as a close relative or family member passing away... or simply the lack of time we all seem to face today in our busy lives... or perhaps it's the multiple deadlines we're up against at work that challenge us to juggle our priorities.

Whatever they may be, or however unique to us these challenges are, there is one fundamental truth I know for sure, they are certain to come. However, unlike a Swiss-crafted timepiece, these roadblocks are highly unpredictable. As you've likely experienced, they usually decide to pop up at the most inconvenient times. Yet, we are forced to face them—head on.

Recently, exactly one year ago to the month, my mother called me during the middle of the day while I was writing. I can still remember the call as if it happened yesterday. I knew it was important because my mother knows how tight my schedule is and just how busy (and focused) I am during the day, and well... she never, ever calls during the day. We always talk at night. At any rate, this was my first signal that something was urgent.

Before I could say a word, she jumped right into why she had to call: "I've just been diagnosed with cancer!" ...as her voice began to crackle, stuttering, she said to me, "It's lymphoma—the cancer—and as it stands, from what the doctors can tell, I have a 50-50 shot at 'making it.'"

Wow!

Talk about getting a bomb dropped on you. That moment felt like a ton of bricks had just been shoveled onto my chest. I could barely breathe. I didn't even know what to say. This was my mother, not some stranger or distant relative.

See, my mother was everything to me—as a child growing up without a dad (who separated and moved far away when I was five), she was my sole inspiration in life.

In that sudden moment, our life together—my childhood memories of us—flashed before me.

For a split second, I could "see" us waiting in line together, when I was seven, at the government-subsidized food shelter in downtown Denver. That's where they handed out cheese, milk, and bread. I could see her dressing me as Superman, in a custom she had sewn by hand... and fighting me to put on a jacket that would cover up my neat custom. (It was one particularly cold Halloween night, and like all good Moms, she knew best.)

I didn't want to let go of all the memories... I didn't want them to stop. Then my mother spoke again, "Stephen, it's going to be okay. Really. I've talked this over already with your father, and we're going to fight this thing. Head on. Don't you worry."

Me, worry? I was thinking to myself. What do I have to worry about...? It's not my life in jeopardy here. I wondered how my mother was really feeling.

Again, it was like something was taking my words from me... I couldn't say a word. I desperately wanted to, but I just couldn't muster up the right words for the time.

Nothing. I mean nothing in life had prepared me for this moment.

Finally, my mother, sensing my frustration and speechlessness, said to me, "Stephen, why don't you tell Julia (my wife) and then come over to the house this weekend, so we can all talk about it."

I agreed, and we both hung up.

After I set the receiver down, I just stared at the phone. I couldn't help but purposely try to fend off the rush of emotions pouring through my body.

To think—to imagine—life without my mother around was... well, it was simply inconceivable.

You just don't normally think about something like that, you know. Just so you know, my mother had me when she was 16, and I'm only 32, so she's still young at only 48 years old. Surely this couldn't be happening to her, or me.

But it was. And, it did.

This event, to me, is a perfect example of what you'd call a roadblock. For my mom, it was more than a roadblock—it was the challenge of her life.

It's been one year since that dreaded phone call, and I'm proud to announce that my mother, Linda, is in full recovery today. And some of the best news yet, on her last visit to the oncologist, they conducted a cat-scan (which is an x-ray of the inside of the body), and her tests revealed she was 100% cured of her cancer.

Now, if you've ever dealt with cancer, you know the process of beating the dreadful disease and recovering is a long, hard road to say the least. From what I could discern, it was generally painful for her at most times, yet in the face of this life-threatening challenge, she displayed the most courage I've ever seen in any human being. I can only imagine how deep within herself she had to dig to find the energy, confidence, and hope to find her way through.

Reflecting back, I recall something that helped me forever understand "how" a person should take on any type of challenge in life. Even a challenge as large as cancer.

One day, I asked my mother how she stood in the face of such a life-threatening challenge and kept her nobility. She said to me, "You face the fact that it's up to you to make a choice how you respond to it."

And that's all she needed to say. I immediately understood what "it" was all about. It—life—and the roadblocks we face along the way are all about the choices we make to either overcome them or, ultimately, let them defeat us.

She chose not to let the cancer defeat her.

From this experience, I gathered a life-long lesson I hope to pass along to all those I come in contact with, including my own family... who become confronted with any challenge, large or small. That is, you have two choices: you can either complain, or you can create.

It's really as simple as that.

Make no mistake about it, one thing my mother made very clear from the onset of her battle with cancer was that she was very certain she would come out on the other side, cured. In her mind, there was no other option.

Now, sure, she could have complained and questioned "why her," but instead she chose to create. To create a new, positive outlook on the outcome. To create a possibility of being healthy and cured—which in her mind quickly became no different than if it had actually already happened. To create a support system of friends, family, and people who would channel their love, support, and energies into helping her reach her expected outcome.

You see, even though she had a long, hard road ahead to travel, in my mom's mind, she was already cured... she had already overcome the mental battle of the cancer before she even started her chemotherapy. It was her body that now had to endure the pain and suffering—or, in her mind—the healing process of getting rid of the cancer.

The bottom line is, she chose to create the possibilities of overcoming her challenge. To transform this negative experience into a lesson, as a way to grow and learn as a person. And, as a way to confront any other challenges in life she may encounter. I mean, heck, if you can face cancer, you can pretty much face anything else, right? When your life is threatened, most other things seem somewhat pointless.

Needless to say, each of us... each and every day... whether we're confronted with a roadblock that prevents us from achieving our best bodies or a tragic event that temporarily stops us from living life to the fullest—each and every one of us makes choices about how we plan to deal with the challenges that lie in front of us.

Now, while some decisions are certainly more important than others, we must understand that to overcome any challenge in life, we need to make choices that will lead us in the right direction. Because with each new choice, we open the doors to many more exciting, new choices—which either lead us closer to our expected outcome or further away. And as a result, for better or worse, our life's ultimate direction, and whether we can overcome these challenges, becomes the sum total of these decisions.

Here, today, just as you're reading this, take a moment to ask yourself: "When faced with a roadblock or a challenge, do you choose to complain about it, or do you choose to create a possibly for success and plan to overcome it?

Go ahead. Take a few minutes to really search yourself for the answer to this question. From what I've seen, there are two types people: those who complain, fold, and break when confronted with obstacles... and those who create endless possibilities, transform their circumstances, and find ways to transform the obstacles.

Which type of person are you really?

If you're typically a "complainer," my hope is we can help you transform your way of thinking. Now, if you're a person who 9 times out of 10 chooses to create a positive situation from a negative experience, then great... you should be extremely proud of yourself.

Right now, we're going to explore more than the "roadblocks" you've encountered—those obstacles that have, up till now, prevented you from building your absolute best body... That's right. You're going to learn a remarkably powerful, yet incredibly simple strategy for how to take any obstacle, challenge, or roadblock and quickly and easily turn it into a positive, rewarding, and educational stepping stone to your success.

Let's quickly explore a 4-step exercise you can put to use TODAY, which will help you discover how the little choices you make today will have a huge effect on your life tomorrow... by learning that your obstacles—those things that seem to oppose your goals—are actually the raw materials to help you achieve your success (including building your absolute best body!).

It's called the Power Principle, and here's how it works:

STEP 1: Choose Your Final Result

For instance, if you're trying to build a better body, your result may be how much energy you have. How much more confidence you'll exude. How your physical appearance will look—will it be muscular or lean or shapely? These are all a result of what you are setting out to achieve.

STEP 2: Determine Your Specific Goal

Again, if your goal is to build a better body... well, that won't cut it as a goal. You've got to follow the guidelines of a goal. So, you can turn that statement into a powerful goal by simply stating it more clearly. "My goal is to gain 10 lbs of muscle and lose 12 lbs of bodyfat in 6 weeks." Can you see how much more specific this goal is? Plus, you now have something to measure your progress against.

STEP 3: List Your Obstacles

So, if you want to build a better body, you certainly know that doesn't come easy. And, as you've already indicated, there is at least one, if not several, obstacles that stand in your way. Now, if you list those obstacles that you feel are your greatest roadblocks, you'll be more than halfway to achieving what you want. I'm serious.

Let's say you're a late-night binge eater or you can't find the time to work out or perhaps you have bad eating habits or you lack discipline... These are all real obstacles you must overcome. Start by writing them out.

STEP 4: List Your Success Strategies

By looking at each obstacle—or simply picking just one—you are forced to focus on the "how" to overcome it. If you list all of the possible ways you could imagine that help you overcome this obstacle, your mind instantly becomes filled with the endless opportunities on how you can achieve it. It's almost like playing a little "trick" on your mind. Because now, if you read carefully through all of your obstacles... therein lie the answers to overcoming them. Your answers become your strategies for success.

Let me give you an example. If one of my obstacles to building a better body was poor eating habits, I'd list my strategies to overcome it as:

• Learn how to control portion sizes. (Measure all protein and carbohydrate-containing foods—they should be equal to the size of my clinched fist.)
• Determine what's "good" and "bad" food in my kitchen.
• And stop eating late at night, especially right before bed. (Start using a fiber drink, like Metamucil, about one hour after eating dinner to prevent late-night snack cravings.)
• Etc., etc.

Can you now see how this works? I've found it's really quite amazing how you can build your own strategies for achieving whatever you want simply by listing ways to overcome the problem.

Bottom Line

What's Next?

As promised, I will choose the top ten roadblocks, from all those answers submitted, and do my very best to reply

So, after we collected the answers you submitted to us, we compiled them into a long list, then grouped similar obstacles together and narrowed down the list and selected the most common. From there, I hand-picked the top 10 I felt best represented the "roadblocks" our team was most qualified to answer.

Starting within the next week or so, I will email you, each week, with one of the ten roadblocks. From the email, you'll be taken to a private forum (a message board on our internet site)—and you'll have full access to read through the answer. I will do this until each of the top 10 "roadblocks" and the success strategies to blast through them have been answered.

Does that sound fair? If so, please be on the look out, in your email box, for Roadblock #1 in about one week. I can't wait to share the answers with you and help you achieve your absolute best body!

Respectfully yours,

Stephen Adele
Editor-in-Chief
Real SOLUTIONS P.S. In the meantime, I encourage you to explore exactly how you can use this simple technique I just shared with you to transform any obstacle you might currently be faced with into your strategy for success—whether in the gym or in life. Good luck!

• Next Article: "The Secret to Healthy Skin"
• Back to Issue 24 Table of Contents

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