Whoever said, “Life is short” was an idiot. Life is the longest journey you’ll ever go through. Only one reality is longer than life. Death. Until you face death, anything you deal with is temporary. The saying should be: “Life is long, setbacks are short.”

But setbacks are a part of life. Setbacks are often how life teaches us lessons. Most of us are too hardheaded to learn a real lesson without them. Many people even let setbacks, set them back further because it’s hard not to regard a demotion to a lower rung as permanent. And life is short. Which is the complete opposite of how it works on this planet.

Once you reframe your subconscious to believe setbacks are short and life is long, you’ll start to look at problems and struggles differently. Facing adversity, knowing it’s temporary, makes our trials much easier to endure. Having the mindset of “I’ll get through this, it’s only temporary” is a game changer, it’s the mindset of the mentally tough.

“Whoever said “life is short” was an idiot. Life is the longest thing we will do. Life is long but temporary setbacks are short. Take risks.” — Ryan Stewman (@hardcorecloser)

Once you’ve retrained your thoughts, the next step is to get over the hurdle as quickly as possible. I’ve found the best way to surpass a setback is to do what I call “the catapult.” Think about it. A catapult is pulled back until it reaches the optimum amount of stress and tension on the cable. At some point, a “trigger” is pulled and the cable releases launching a weapon at full speed. Even though the catapult is only stretched back a few feet, the momentum springs the weapon forward thousands of feet.

Picture yourself as that catapult. You hit stress and tension, which pulls you back just enough to reach your limits. Then, after a brief period of time, some sort of trigger in your life causes you to use that tension and stress to spring ahead with powerful force and terminal velocity.

When you face hard times, look for the “trigger” to release you from your tension and stress, the hair setting that will launch you into momentum. Instead of feeling down and out about the turn of events, shift your focus to finding the trigger. As soon as you see yourself hitting a setback, start looking for it.

Once you find it, the next step is to pull it! Use it to catapult you to heights you couldn’t previously reach. Use it to gather steam to launch onward. And don’t stop until you hit the ground. When you do, take off running. Use every bit of momentum available.

You now know setbacks are the pivot point for momentum. This mindset allows you to actually look forward to the stumbles that befall everyone. After all, if you believe what I’m sharing with you, that a setback is essential to attain massive gains in your life, could this actually mean setbacks are a good thing?

I’d rather approach a trying situation from a positive light, than adding more negativity to the circumstance. Having this mindset has allowed me to overcome some of the toughest obstacles we can face as humans. I’m talking adoption, incarceration, divorce, bankruptcy and sadly… more.

It would have been easier to have given up, to have felt sorry for myself. Because I encountered so many disappointments and so much hurt from the people closest to me…and I experienced this betrayal over and over again. But I decided to use my hardships as fuel to propel me farther than I’ve ever been.

“An arrow can only be shot by pulling it backward. So when life is dragging you back with difficulties, it means that it’s going to launch you into something great.”

Every setback has allowed me the chance to build enough stress and tension to rocket me into momentum as soon as the trigger was pulled. When I was incarcerated, it was a major setback. But I identified the trigger as my release date. During my stint, I spent my time preparing for when the trigger would be deployed. I read books. Learned new things and created an entire plan of action for the trigger date. I did whatever I could, so when the time came to draw back that trigger I knew without a doubt how far I would fly, and how many miles I would put between myself and the pitfalls that had held me back.

Use the setback time to build up stress and tension, and then convert it into momentum. Once you locate that trigger, make a plan for what happens after it’s pulled. Those who plan to succeed, rarely fail.

Bottom line: next time you’re in some sort of a setback situation, think of it in a positive light. It’s a good thing and it’s also a stop-gap; in the longest thing you’ll ever do (life) The faster you can find the trigger and get back on top of your game, the faster you’ll hit your highest momentum.

What have you done to get back up after life knocked you down? Please share your thoughts in the comment section below!