#140: Navigating the Long Haul: Strategies for Endurance

Are you staring down a seemingly endless stretch of time or a monumental task that feels insurmountable? How do you maintain your focus and keep your spirits up when the road ahead seems never-ending?

In this episode, I delve into the art of enduring the long haul. I'll share with you a powerful strategy that can transform your perspective and make even the most challenging journeys feel achievable.

Discover the secret to conquering those daunting, never-ending periods in life by breaking them down into manageable segments. I'll illustrate this approach with personal anecdotes, from parenting an empty-nest child to pursuing a four-year ministerial training program. Learn how to shift your mindset and embrace shorter milestones, finding excitement and momentum as you near each finish line.

Tune in to gain the valuable skill of breaking down life's daunting challenges into manageable chunks, allowing you to conquer any long-term goal with confidence and enthusiasm. Don't miss this episode's insights on transforming your perspective and tackling life's longest journeys with ease.

As always, thanks for listening!

You can find me here:

Dr. Thor on Instagram @drthor.tv
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Website: https://drthor.tv/

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
In a previous career I was a screenwriter and facing
a blank page was probably aboutthe hardest thing that you could
ever imagine, because you had115 blank pages ahead of you
that you had to fill.
Not only that you had to fill,but they had to be good.
Every page had to make you wantto read the next one, and you

(00:24):
knew that, while, like, youcould sort of maybe do those
first 10 pages and you knew thatmaybe the last 20 pages you
could both through, you knewthere was going to be a big
chunk in the middle that you hadto work through, and so the
challenge that you faced wasjust imagining that entire blank
section of pages.

(00:45):
So how do you get through thatwhen you feel like you can't get
through that long haul frombeginning to end?
That's today's episode.
Welcome to.
Every Day, a New Thought.
I'm Thor Chalgren, and everyweekday I share a new thought, a
new perspective.
Today I want to talk aboutfacing the blank page, and it's

(01:09):
not just the writing metaphor,that project that I described at
the front.
I use that as an example.
Really, it could be anythingwhere you are facing the
prospect of something that feelslike it's going to go on
forever.
I'll give you another example.
It's September.
So many parents who've had kidsgo off to college, they are now

(01:31):
faced with the prospect ofmaybe they haven't seen their
kids since late August and theymay not see them again until
they come home for Thanksgiving.
So what is that Two and a halfmonths?
I know when I was very first anempty nester, that prospect of
late August until end ofNovember, that felt like forever

(01:52):
and I didn't feel like I couldget through that until I had the
chance to see my daughter again.
So basically we're talkingabout anything that can feel
like it's a long period of time.
I'll give you another personalexample.
Today I am beginning the secondyear of my ministerial training
program.
This is a program where Istarted at last year, so this is

(02:16):
year two, and actually before Ieven began those two years, I
had another two years oftraining and certification
before I even got to that point.
So I guess technically this isthe fourth year of a four year
program.
But again, my point is I couldlook at this where I am right
now and think, gosh, you know,I've got nine months ahead of me

(02:38):
before I finish the program.
So the question then becomes howdo you manage a long period of
time where it seems like it'sgoing to be forever before you
get to some end result?
Here's the answer Break it downinto sections that you can
manage.
Yesterday, in episode 139, Italked about how knowing the

(03:04):
distance in a traffic jam canmake all the difference.
If you know, for instance, thatwhen you come into a traffic
jam, that it's going to be amile and then traffic will clear
up, that makes you feel betterbecause you know what that
distance is, you've actuallytaken an unknown and made it
known.
It's the same thing here.
If I break down my big timeperiod into smaller chunks, then

(03:29):
all I have to do is just focuson one of those chunks at a time
, for instance, on myministerial program.
I don't have to spend ninemonths, I don't have to think of
it as nine months.
I just have to focus on, say,between now and Christmas, and
then I get a break In my mind.
I focus on these next couple ofmonths and everything else I

(03:52):
put out on my mind, because forright now, that's all I'm
focused on.
If I'm writing my next book, Idon't have to focus on the
entire blank book ahead of me.
I just have to focus on writingone chapter.
Just focus on that, andeverything else I'll put aside,
and when I come to it I will,but for now it's one chapter.

(04:12):
Or in my example of being anempty Nestor parent, if I'm
waiting for my kid to come homefor Thanksgiving, I don't have
to think of this as, oh my gosh,it's two and a half months
before I see them again.
All I need to do is get myselfto mid October, because now when
I'm in mid-October, it's easierfor me to say, oh,

(04:34):
thanksgiving's only a month away, it's just weeks away, and then
I'll see them again.
So you see how you can kind ofdo that is trick yourself into
breaking it down into a smallerchunk of time, because the truth
is, when you get toward the endof that chunk of time, in a lot
of cases adrenaline or momentumor excitement is going to take

(04:55):
over.
So really all you're doing issort of guarding your mindset in
that middle section where itcan seem like it will go on
forever.
So it's easier to manage yourmindset if you think in smaller
time increments.
You could say something likeall I have to do now is and then

(05:15):
fill in the blank.
So you might.
In my case, I might say all Ihave to do now is focus on that
first chapter.
All I have to do now is getmyself to mid-October.
All I have to do now is focuson my studies between now and
Christmas, or even now inThanksgiving, because, honestly,
between Thanksgiving andChristmas, even that chunk of
time will feel like it movesmuch faster.

(05:38):
I recently did an episode whereI talked about the idea of a
two-month purpose.
That was in show number 135.
I like the two-month purposebecause it's easier to manage
your mindset.
You can see the beginning, themiddle and the end.
You can hold it all in yourmind and not freak out about

(05:59):
something seeming so big.
So I encourage you to check outthat episode.
I also talk in that episodeabout a free training series
that I have where I talk aboutthe two-month purpose and I put
it in the bigger context ofputting yourself first.
I'll put that link in the shownotes, the show description,
below.
So when you are in this place,manage your mindset by saying

(06:26):
all I have to do is and thenbreak it down into smaller
increments.
All I have to do now is saythat's the show for today.
I hope you liked it?
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Until next time.
Thanks for listening.