Must one REALLY have a breakdown before they can have a breakthrough??

I think he is full of shit. XD
Not everyone has to go through major drama before they learn an important thing or overcome a problem ;)

if he’s full of shit, he definitely needs a breakthrough

@RealEyesRealizeRealLies -He needs his AK! XD

I think we make progress all the time but just don’t notice it as much. Progress after a breakdown is much more visible.

You can change your car’s oil every 4000 miles and the engine will run a long time.
Or you can never change it, ignore the oil light and have the engine breakdown. Then, have your breakthrough by going to a garage and buying a new engine that will maybe last another 15000 miles.
Both methods will get you to 100,000 miles but which is less traumatic and costly?
Give me the scheduled maintenance every time. I don’t need the drama.

My guess is the motivational speaker is selling a snake oil product.

Well, then that would explain why my almost-breakdowns have only yielded almost-breakthroughs…

I think that for some, they won’t need the complete breakdown to raise themselves higher. But you certainly get a different perspective on life when you’re looking up at everything. Maybe it’s only when we’ve got nowhere to look but up, we see even higher than where we were originally, and reach for that.

(Funny, what I just said works well with @worriedguy‘s… the distance from bottom to top is farther than middle to top…)

Personally, I find that finding myself farther from where I wanted to be rather than closer a little overwhelming. Spinning that to positivity would really help. So maybe that’s what the phrase is doing. Telling those that feel like they’ve fallen that it’s okay, they can still climb back up. If you believe that before you go up you have to go down, you won’t feel like you’ve made your life harder on yourself, you’re just going along with the necessary process. That your distance means you’re actually closer.

Not at all – although they often can be associated.

When they are, I think that it’s often after you’ve invested so much into a particular line of reasoning, idea, project, whatever that clearly isn’t working, and have to get to appoint where you can drop all of the assumptions that you were working with.

No, it is not necessary. But perhaps a breakthrough is the silver lining after a breakdown.

I can picture a crack head talking like that. “I gotta spend all my money, lose my job and friends and really hit bottom before I can lose the monkey.’
How much better it would be if he stopped right now – while he still has the job, friends, and cash.

Is it better to wait until you weigh 400 pounds and have a heat attack before you realize, “Hey! Maybe I should lose some weight!” or are you better off exercising a little every day, watching what you eat and keeping your weight at your desired level?

There is no time like the present to make progress. It will never be easier than right now!

In my experience, I’ve only been open to new ideas when nothing I’m currently doing is working. I don’t know if that’s a breakdown, but it sure motivates you to try something else.