Aug 30 2007
Working Through Adversity
I just got a new hard drive for my laptop because my other one completely died right in the middle of an application. Our football team is 0-1 and looks like we are going to get our brains beat in this week. I am taking home less per check this year than last despite a raise. I am tired, I am fat, and life is hard. Am I miserable? No. As a matter of fact I am happier than I have ever been.
Working through adversity is a matter of choice. I heard it a long time ago from William Glassier. He is an educator whose main philosophy is that everyone has a choice. You have to decide what choice it is that you want to make. He applies it to school and teaches the students that he works with that everything is controlled by their choices. They choose to get in trouble by breaking the rules. They choose to fail classes by not doing the work assigned. They also choose to be successful by choosing to ask questions. They choose to be successful by choosing to follow the rules of the school. They choose to be good students by simply choosing to be good students.
It is the same when you are working through adversity. It does not matter if you are self employed or working in a Fortune 500 company the rules are the same. When adversity hits you have two choices. Decide to overcome it, and move on. Live another day the way you want to live, or decide to let it take over. If you let it take over you will simply run into more adversity.
So what would you rather have? A life full of complaints why things don’t go your way, or a life that is lived the way you want to live it. My hard drive crashing was not that bad of a thing. I got some other work done that needed to be done, and I got to spend time with my wife. Our football team is terrible right now, but instead of being down on them I still see the potential for a great team. I am making less this year, but that just motivates me to develop my own sources of income.
It is all in the choices you make. So here is an action list for you:
- Make a list of everything you want in your life. Don’t worry about it being realistic, or materialistic just list everything that comes to your mind as fast as you can.
- Prioritize until you have 5 that are the most important to you, and will make you the most happy.
- Write these down on a note card. Put that note card in your pocket and read it at least twice a day.
- Write down these 5 successes and post them where you will see them. A bathroom mirror works well; your steering wheel is another great spot.
- Repeat them until you believe them.
- Once you have it down, and the 5 success become beliefs teach your success to 5 others.
It works for me, it has worked for others. If you think that it is silly, and you don’t have to do it, then you need to decide just how important those 5 successes are. How badly do you want them? How much do you want change?
Conceive It, Believe It, Achieve It
Coach Kip
