Dealing with Obstacles and Adversity

“Adversity has the effect of drawing out strengths and qualities of a man that would have lain dormant in its absence.”

Herodotus – Greek philosopher

With the recent gyrations in the stock market it seemed like the opportune time to discuss how we handle adversity and the obstacles that pop up in life.

The Chinese proverb; “May you live in interesting times.” certainly fits the world we find

ourselves in today. In the past fifteen years we’ve lived through two economic bubbles and their meltdowns, have had multi-billion dollar businesses pop up that didn’t even exist ten years ago while older longtime industries disappear, world strife, civil unrest etc. etc.

As the leader of your business you have every right for all of these factors to cause uneasiness, fear, discouragement and anger right? Not necessarily. We can choose to react emotionally, get down in the dumps and lose our perspective or we can learn to see that outward appearances can be deceiving.

John D. Rockefeller started his career as a bookkeeper. What helped propel him to the heights of the industrial world was his ability to remain calm and objective during even the most chaotic times. He was once quoted as saying, “He was inclined to see the opportunity in every disaster.” Rudyard Kipling wrote in his famous poem; “If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs,,, You’ll be a man, my son.” All of this points to the idea that there is opportunity within every obstacle if we choose to see it that way.

Throughout our lives we will come across obstacles both fair and unfair. If you really learn to pay attention you’ll notice what matters most is not the obstacle itself but how we see and react to it. Our reactions will determine how successful we will be in overcoming them. One person’s crisis is another person’s opportunity.

If you read up on the prevailing wisdom of how to handle obstacles and adversity you’ll see things like:

* Imagine the worst it can be then take the first step in making it better

* Remind yourself that adversity is part of life

* Build your internal and external resources

* Learn from others who have dealt with obstacles

While all of these are fine ideas I believe the best thing you can do is to study your own perceptions. In other words, we can choose to lose our heads during difficult times or choose not to.

The people I’ve known who handle obstacles best are those who have taught themselves they have a choice about how they respond to any situation. Creating discipline in our perceptions allows us to clearly see the opportunity in an obstacle and leads us toward the correct course of action without the typical panic and fear. Like sharpening a knife, we can sharpen our ability to control and channel our emotional reaction to any situation. Like any other learned behavior though it takes practice. Many people either can’t or won’t work on this, condemning themselves to being slaves to impulses and instincts they’ve never questioned.

Even if it leads us in a direction we never anticipated, every obstacle has an opportunity within it and the opportunity for us to learn and grow. Seen this way, we can turn adversity into a new opportunity.

So what should we focus on in order to learn how to tackle even the biggest obstacles?

* First, work hard to be as objective about a situation as you can. It’s amazing how fast our minds can paint our biases all over a situation that we then take as “the real world.” If you have trouble finding the objectivity you’d like, involve others. The more opinions and points of view you can get the better. No one opinion will be 100% right but looking at an obstacle from many different viewpoints is a great way to find the common denominator.

* Second, learn to control your thoughts. Every emotion we have is based on a thought we had first. When we learn to control our thoughts we control our emotions. When we control our emotions we begin to calm down and look at things more objectively.

* Third, look for the positives. It’s easy to follow the crowd and immediately be consumed by all the negative perceptions we can have about an adverse situation. Teach yourself to take a cool and unflappable look at things before jumping to conclusions.

* Fourth, focus on what you can control and don’t worry about the things you have no control over. By taking the steps necessary to scale an obstacle you begin to feel in control of the situation again. By leaving alone the things you have no control over you save your energy for what you can do.

* And finally, always strive to keep things in perspective. When we learn to perceive things differently we teach ourselves to stop seeing the obstacle in front of us as a problem.

Find the opportunity within the obstacle and see how things begin to change in your life and your business.