Facing Challenges
By admin | October 27, 2008
By Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth
As you travel the path toward success there will be many obstacles in your way. You will face physical, mental, financial, and resource challenges among others. Instead of beating yourself up or giving in, it is critical that you develop the ability to learn from setbacks. In today’s post I will take a brief look at the beliefs that cause some to succeed where most fail. In a nutshell, dealing with barriers, obstacles, and setbacks is much more about attitude than aptitude. So my question is this; Do you have the attitude to thrive under pressure and to succeed, or will you implode when faced with a challenge?
Sir Edmund Hillary was three times unsuccessful while trying to climb Mount Everest before the success of his historical climb to the summit in 1953. People who shouted the praises of his triumph said, “You’ve conquered the mountain,” and Sir Hillary said, “No, I’ve conquered myself.” The bitter experiences of the three failed attempts did not hold back Hillary from a fourth one. With strong will, and relentless enthusiasm, he pursued his goal and achieved it.
Anyone who has ever launched a new initiative understands the inevitability of running into numerous barriers over the life-cycle of any project. The difference between those who succeed and those that fail is their perspective on how to deal with the barriers they encounter along the way. People often stumble over obstacles and even consider them as excuses for their failures. Setbacks and difficulties are an inevitable part of life. While they often challenge your skills and temperament, it is those who are willing to spend the time assessing the obstacles as they arise, and who refuse to submit to their various trials that will succeed. The ability to blow through barriers must become a passion if you want to achieve sustainable success in the business world. Generally speaking, there are only really two ways to address difficulties:
- You can either change the circumstances surrounding the difficulty, or change yourself to better deal with the circumstances or the difficulty itself.
- You can deal with difficulties properly and leverage your experience (or better yet the experience of others) to enhance your confidence, or you can deal with them incorrectly and let them seriously damage your confidence, performance and ultimately your reputation.
If you can see and face challenges in a positive way, you will gain immense experience and knowledge from it. As the old saying goes, a smooth sea never made a skillful sailor. Following are some points to consider when setbacks do occur:
- Be honest enough to acknowledge what has happened. Don’t hide from the reality of the situation at hand. Setbacks happen…don’t be discouraged, learn from them, deal with them, and move on.
- Turn setbacks into learning situations by asking positive questions such as: What are the positives surrounding this situation? How can I make the most of this situation? What can I learn from it? What are the facts underlying this problem? How can I avoid this situation next time?
- Acknowledge the fact that setbacks occur to everyone and you are not being singled out.
- View setbacks as a challenge to overcome rather than an issue or problem.
As you know, a diamond cannot be polished without friction. Use obstacles and failures as an opportunity to polish your skills. I think Winston Churchill said it best when he noted, “The pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; the optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.”
Topics: Crisis Management, Productivity |
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