“Yes – I can do this!”  We have all been there at some point.  We start out with a great deal of energy and excitement as we head into our journey towards that next big objective.

Many times we encounter some catalyst for change brought on by a meaningful event in our lives:  A significant change in our personal life, the ideas of a great speaker, the insightful guidance from a friend or family member, or some helpful concept in a book.  Some situation triggered our response to get motivated to take on that next challenge and go after another well intentioned goal.  We take off from that mountain top “high” with a great deal of enthusiasm.

After traveling a little ways into our journey, we eventually find ourselves off the mountain top “high” and into the valley.  The valley we encounter towards our objective is difficult.  The ability to clearly see our goal gets more challenging and somehow the journey does not seem as exciting as when we set off from the mountain top.

I am sure we can all relate to a few valley moments:

• After some time in a new job, when our coworkers and boss don’t seem as supportive as they did at the start and the work is no longer exciting
• After some time of progress on our new diet and exercise routine, things slow down a little and we notice a few pounds creeping back on the scale
• When that “sweet bundle of joy” we brought home from the hospital becomes angry and rebellious
• When the “I do” in marriage becomes “when you know what freezes over”
• When a poor choice brings about a bad outcome and there is no hiding from the consequence

We could all come up with a good laundry list of excuses to quit when we are struggling in the valley…and some of them are legitimate.  Storms do come and destroy much of what we tried to build, tragedy does strike, people do fail to keep up their end of the contract, etc., etc. 

However, for the vast majority of our endeavors, the consistent application of timeless, universal, and self-evident principles like courage, commitment, loyalty, and perseverance will rarely cause us to fall short of crossing through the valley and reaching the next mountain top in our journey.   

Below are a few suggestions around these principles to support moving through the valley and up to the next mountain top:

1. Set Priorities: We cannot do everything.  Be very selective and declare a clear “yes” or a clear “no” so our energy can be channeled into a few really important goals.
2. Be Intentional: “Winging it” or “going with the flow” is not an effective strategy. We need to be intentional about outlining the direction we are heading and the habits we need to keep moving forward. 
3. Develop Effective Habits: This should be the mechanical process of day in and day out developing the thoughts, decisions and actions that will deliver on our plan. Our habits will help keep us heading in the right direction when we are in the darkness of the valley.

We will all have our share of valley moments throughout life.  However, when our habits (thoughts, decisions, and actions) are guided by principles like perseverance, commitment, loyalty, and sacrifice, we build and strengthen our character and Character Creates Opportunity to move through the valleys and achieve that next milestone in our journey.