The Challenge Log is a Q&A journal aimed at getting clarity around obstacles, hurdles and -d’oh, 😁- challenges!
This two-step routine is particularly powerful if
- You’re stuck – and not moving forward as much as you want
- You keep getting stranded without seeing things through, or
- You’re simply not clear on what the next step should be.
A routine is a process you repeat: you can choose to do the Challenge Log Routine every day -to ensure forward motion- or whenever you’re stuck.
A log keeps track of your challenges in a way that lets you recognize patterns.
In the Challenge Log Routine, you answer a specific set of questions. It works best when you have someone else ask the questions, whether that someone is real or virtual.
I personally very much prefer virtual, but whatever you choose, make sure it’s someone you can reply to honestly, openly, and without restraints.
Now, I’m going to assume you’re familiar with guide energy, higher selves and/or specific aspects that you can turn to, but if not check out this article on Guides:
RELATED ARTICLE: Morning Coffee with My Angels
The Challenge Log Routine works because it connects you with the underlying issue and the solution!
And if you do it often, it actually helps rewire your brain so that you start thinking in terms of solutions!
In the Challenge Log Routine you ask yourself two questions.
The first question is: “What’s your Challenge?”
Yep. That simple!
And then you reply.
My answers are typically along the lines of:
- I have trouble getting started on ‘this action’
- I can’t seem to move past ‘this hump’ or
- I’m not sure why I’m procrastinating on ‘this topic’.
Very often it quite literally is: “I don’t know where to start with this!”
It’s invariably something I can’t get a grip on – or something I can’t dive into, can’t seem to fully connect with.
Which makes sense, cos this is a challenge log: it’s designed to zone in on the obstacle.
Once you’ve answered that first question, “What’s your Challenge?” you explore your answer by adding more questions. Why? Because you need to know: is the answer you gave really the obstacle?
So you explore: “This thing you’re having trouble with, tell me more. Why is that a problem? What’s underneath it?”
You’re now having a conversation with yourself and your aim is to get at the bottom of what’s bugging you.
You see, if you have a tendency to not do what you actually want to do, but instead do what you feel you ought to do, then you will have a hard time getting that unwanted thing done.
For example, you can spend days agonizing over who to invite to your birthday party but if what you really want is to grab a good book and a bottle of wine and be a couch potato all day long, then you’re looking at the wrong question! You don’t actually want to know who to invite, you want to know how you can have the day to yourself!
So what you consider the problem is rather crucial.
If you have a tendency to do what you feel you ought to, then you will have a hard time getting that done. So what challenge will you focus on: getting it done anyway? Or connecting with what you really want and finding a way to do that?
But if you’re an empath or if you’re otherwise trained to not really listen to yourself, the actual problem tends to be hidden. This is a simple given because if it weren’t, you would have already resolved it.
If the root cause of your issues is hidden you can probably use some help getting it into focus. So schedule a Clarity Call with me!
At one point I wasn’t making any progress on one of the modules in the new programme.
I soon concluded that it was taking forever because of a ‘sabotaging streak’.
You see, I have a hard time making myself visible.
Finishing that module meant becoming visible.
So I concluded I was probably coming up with distractions left and right to stop myself from finishing that module.
Now, that is Very Much a Logical Explanation. In fact, I come up with distractions every single day! It’s my biggest challenge: to recognize it when I do that!
But. It wasn’t the core issue, even if it was definitely and absolutely related to it.
In fact, my sabotaging streak was very cleverly piggybacking on the actual issue.
And the actual issue was this: there was an error in that module and part of me knew this, but another part of me had missed it. And every time I sat with that module, I’d get confused, annoyed, irritated – and I’d end up walking away.
“Cos you don’t want to be visible!”
“Yes, true! Let’s sit with that!”
And I’d sit with that.
And I’d sit with that again.
And because my visibility issue was actually a thing it took me forever to realize it wasn’t the thing. The thing was that the module itself was off.
So yes, issues can be very deeply hidden! And if you need help isolating yours, by all means reach out to me and we can look at it together!
But by now it must be clear to you that zoning in on the right obstacle is crucial.
So that’s the first question: What is your Challenge? And you explore that until you’ve got the right answer.
So, now you have your answer. You know what the problem is. And if you’ve hit the spot, then you’ve got this awesome aha-feeling about it: “Oh! So that’s what I was up against! Yes!!”
And this is where people make the second biggest mistake in challenge resolution. The first one is, of course, looking at the wrong problem. But the second mistake is that at this point we tend to walk away. We’ve had our light bulb moment and we think we’re done.
But you’re not done. Far from it. You now have to turn your insights into forward motion.
And that’s what the second question is about:
“So, this is your Obstacle. Now how are you going to deal with that?”
That is the $100M question right there. How are you going to deal with the challenge you’ve just recognized?
And now you answer that question. “If I want to resolve this, then I will have to…“
Fortunately, once you’ve zoned in on the real problem, the solution is often self-evident. It just needs to be implemented!
The answer to the second question very often implies ‘taking action’. But if you’ve sufficiently explored your challenge, then the action will be ‘inspired’: you’ll be eager to implement it because you know it will resolve something you really want to see resolved!
That doesn’t mean implementing the solution is always easy. You might still have a lot of resistance to overcome! But now your problem is clear and you know what to do.
Now you have a choice.
You’re no longer fighting an invisible enemy.
But understand this: either you want the solution – or you don’t! If you can’t seem to overcome your resistance to implementing the solution, ask yourself this: What’s your Challenge now?
And then you explore that.
And you keep on exploring until you can implement the solution!
If you stop before you’ve zoned in on your next inspired action, you’ve pulled out too soon.
You can stop and take a breath.
You can stop and return tomorrow or next week.
But if it hasn’t led to the next clear action step, you’re not done!
So make sure you take action!
Three quick closing notes:
1. Know that the more often you ask yourself these questions, the quicker you can cut to the answers. This routine really does rewire your brain to start thinking in terms of solutions.
2. Sometimes you’ll find that what you’ve stumbled onto is something you simply don’t want to be doing! If the challenge you were faced with was, “I have to do something I really don’t feel like doing but, frankly, I don’t even have a good reason why I should be doing it!” you can now stop torturing yourself and just walk away! Feel into that. You can just walk away!
3. Make sure you keep a log: After zoning in on your challenge, make a note of the main topic. Really distill that convo, using a few brief words to connect you with the issue and – if you got that far – the inspired action required to move forward. If your summaries are visible at a glance, it will help you easily recognize patterns.
One of my sabotaging techniques is to keep myself re-inventing the same wheel. Those (one line!) summaries of my conversations made that visible: the same topic, hidden with different words, but very clearly the same topic, kept returning over and over until it was staring me in the face. And I understood the implications at once: my subconscious wouldn’t let me get a grip on it because it was too dangerous for my inner 7-yo.
If you have those issues, you want to know. So keep that log!!!
P.S. If you would like to read more about a specific topic – or if you would simply like to connect – send me a message via Facebook. Or come and join the Tribe!
