You’re on the edge of something big, I mean REALLY. BIG.
You can taste it.
And what happens? Suddenly, the biggest doubt or crisis possible comes up for you.
You freeze, and you ask yourself: Why? I’m so close, why is this happening now?
To achieve ANY important result in life, you have to be a warrior.
If you want something that’s beyond where you are right now, 90% is just not going to cut it.
Big Moves Take 100% Of Your Being.
Ask anyone who has achieved what you want to do, whether they’ve been through this kind of “new level” crisis – and they will emphatically nod their head.
EVERYONE who has ever achieved anything of merit has faced a crisis point, stared it down, and stepped forward anyway.
A warrior is someone who pushes themselves to the very brink of what they can handle, and chooses to keep going.
This is true in any area of your life – but you’ll see it the most clearly in business. Because in business, your actions show clearly definable results. As my friend, consultant Garrett Carrara says, “business is about what you do, and what you don’t do.”
In business, “should have / would have / could have” don’t count for squat. Because those don’t get results, and business is about making things happen.
So business is the perfect testing ground to prove yourself as the Strong Heart-Centred Warrior that you are.
You want to achieve something?
Great – do it.
The reality is, whenever you are about to leap into a new playing field, YOU WILL BE TESTED.
Immediately. Harshly. Constantly.
Because you absolutely will not be able to achieve the new results you’re going for with less than 100% commitment.
So LIFE will test you – to see how committed you are. You’ll fall. You’ll get an injury. You’ll get scared. People will criticize or doubt you. Sometimes publicly.
The universe suddenly says to you: “Oh, I see you want to be at this new level. Are you SURE? ……… Are you REALLY sure?”
This happens for a reason. Because the new level will take more from you – more energy, more strength, more drive. If you can’t even hold your determination through the initial test, then you’ll never be able to hold it consistently at the new level. So you’re tested.
If you make it through, it gets easier.
If you don’t, it falls apart.
I’ve been through this kind of crisis many times in my life – some times I chose to move forward through it, and some times I didn’t. So I know how it turns out both ways.
And I know with certainty, that when you want something new and you’re facing intense challenges –
THE ONLY WAY OUT IS THROUGH.
Here are two personal examples; one where I faced a “New Level Crisis” and went through it, and one where I didn’t.
1. Crisis I went THROUGH: When Alexis asked me to be the CEO of Eyes Wide Open, I sliced open the bottom of my toe. Badly. Right through the tendon (I actually still can’t fully move it). I couldn’t walk for a week. It was painful, it was scary, it filled me with doubt. Everything about the experience called me to examine the question: is this what you REALLY want? It was terrifying.
I had to let go of two other opportunities I was interested in. I had to put everything on the line. I didn’t know how it would turn out. I had to examine every part of my inner being, my desires, my goals, and fears, because life pushed me – the only way possible for me to take this on was with a 100% commitment. It was challenging. And I chose yes.
It then got MORE challenging – there was a 90-day freeze on the company’s merchant account, there was $45,000 in payroll due before the next sales event (1.5 months away), AND Alexis said to me: “I’m done running this business, I need to focus my energy on the other business. If you want to fix this you’ve got to do it by yourself.” Again it was a huge a test of my will, of my inner alignment to go in this new direction. I kept going.
I made it through that challenge, figured out how to bring in the $45k in time, and that was the breaking point. I passed through the barrier, and arrived into the new level.
For me to arrive as CEO of this company, that was what it took – I had to walk through an intense fire of uncertainty and pressure for months, and maintain my resolve.
I made it through that, and now we are consistently bringing in $50-60k each month into the business. It’s still tough, shaky and scary sometimes. But because I passed through that crisis, maintaining this level of results doesn’t phase me at all. I’m comfortable in it, and now have new horizons I’m looking to.
2. Crisis I backed DOWN from: This is really personal. I’m a very spiritual person, and my spiritual path is my number 1 priority in life. It’s just who I am. When I was 27, I was still working out that inner alignment, and I was deeply attached to desires and concepts about what I should do with my life.
I had a moment (it lasted a few months, but it felt like one “moment in life”) where I was given a huge spiritual opportunity, to apply myself further with certain teachers and in certain practices.
Everything in me knew that if I went in that direction, I would go very far in my practice and in what I want to discover about myself.
Right at that moment, I met a man who I fell instantly. Wildly, devastatingly. In love with.
It was the biggest test life could have possibly presented me with.
My path, my calling, was asking me so clearly: “Do you REALLY want this (the spiritual journey)? Are you SURE you want it?”
I knew that the only way to go into that new spiritual direction was to do it alone, not in relationship. It was completely clear.
But I was so confused by the strong pull of my emotions and desires… they overpowered my senses, consumed my awareness, and I didn’t have an anchoring in a deeper Inner Presence to ground my choice in. I was too swayed by those outer emotions.
I didn’t think I was strong enough to make it through that storm, to the other side of how devastating it felt to not pursue loving him. So I backed down.
I let myself fall in love, went into relationship with him. It was beautiful, it was wonderful, it was the deepest & most tender love – but it also split me right in half inside. Because part of me always knew that I had backed down from my truest calling.
It took me six years to recover from that dichotomy and work it out in myself.
I eventually had to leave the relationship, because the split in me was so deep. It was the most painful, hardest thing I’ve ever done. It took SIX YEARS of pain, confusion, and depression to make it back to the same point where I was before that “New Level Crisis” moment. Backing down ended up being way harder than it would have been to walk through the fire of the challenge.
Because – when you do choose to go THROUGH the New Level Crisis – it’s hard and intense, but you are supported by all of your inner strength and allies.
When you back down from it, you go into darkness, confusion, and more inner turmoil.
The “backing down” lesson was necessary, and I needed to learn it the hard way (obviously) because otherwise I wouldn’t know what I now know about this.
AND, what I’ve taken away strongly from it is the importance of being a Life Warrior.
Being a warrior means that you’re willing to be uncomfortable, to do things that no one understands, to let things die, to let go of your concepts and attachments, even if most people criticize you — and you do it because you KNOW the inner purity of what is calling you forward.
Listen – you know where the old path leads. You’ve been down that road, you know exactly where it goes. You want to keep doing the same thing?
The DOOR OF OPPORTUNITY Is Only Held Open For You For So Long
If you’re standing in front of that open door right now, and you’re scared because the winds are starting to gust and blow stormy all around you, recognize it for the grace that it is.
Have the courage to choose what you want for yourself.
Feel the fear, feel the storm.
And step through anyway.
Please share your comments below.
Amrita Khalsa is the CEO of Eyes Wide Open Life, and coaches members regularly in our Eyes Wide Open – Have It All program on achieving the results they want in business.
