Overcoming Adversity

Adversity is, and always has been a part of life and of business.?No matter who you are, or what you do, if you're trying to accomplish something meaningful you are certain to come across adversity time and time again.?So, the question is, how?do you overcome it??This day and age, too many back away from adversity. They quit, they pivot, they decide to do something else. Our society wants the comfortable job, the comfortable life. We don't want to feel pain, or struggle.?We run from the possibility of failure.We want to have our cake and eat it too.?

Unfortunately, that simply isn't reality. Adversity is here to stay.?In fact, I believe we are bound to face more adversity than ever in today's increasingly competitive market.?So it is imperative that we learn to overcome adversity.?We need to know how to overcome it, how to embrace it, and how to learn from it.?That is the key to growth, that is the key to accomplishing your personal and professional dreams.

'Sometimes adversity is what you need to face in order to become successful'

-Zig Ziglar

Those who have accomplished understand this, they embrace this, and often the seek adversity as they know it will make them stronger. They have tried and failed, and then they have tried again, and again, and again.?They have not let the possibility of failure discourage them, they have not let the challenges, and naysayers stop them. They understand that this is simply part of the process. They learn from the adversity, they grow from the adversity, their mind grows tough through the adversity.?The fact that they are willing to go through adversity, and challenge their obstacles and fears head on is one of the single greatest contributors to their success that separate them from the rest.

So here are a few ways that you can start to overcome adversity, and start developing your mind, your skillset and increasing your odds of success.

Accept the Adversity.

All too often we are not willing to accept the circumstances that are staring us straight in the face.?We want to 'be positive', and focus on the upside.?We want to deny the challenges in front of us, and often simply ignore them. The first step in overcoming adversity is accepting the fact that it exists, and is right in front of you.?I am not trying to imply that positivity and focusing on the upside is not important, as it certainly is.?Being positive about facing your fears and challenges is in fact necessary to defeating them. But if it blinds us from the reality in front of us it can be destructive.?We need to take a honest look at the obstacles in front of us and assess them at face value.?We need to be aware of what will get in our way, and take a good hard look at these things. So stop denying the challenges in front of you and accept them.

Develop a Solid Plan.

Now that you have accepted the adversity in front of you, and assessed it at face value, you can start to build a plan to overcome it. Now the specifics of the plan will vary depending on just what it is you are facing, but these tactics will apply in all scenarios.?And it is important to note that you should not be building your plan out of fear, but rather out of an honest assessment of the facts, and a good understanding of how others before you have overcome similar challenges.?Here are some steps that I'd recommend taking:

• Define what a win looks like: First and foremost you need to understand what overcoming this challenge looks like. Determine what it will look like when you win,?and write it down?. For example, if the adversity you are facing currently is that you continually miss your sales numbers, define exactly what monthly, weekly and daily results will look like for you.
• Reverse engineer your results into the appropriate activity: Take a look at your current performance or track record and assess how often you are winning based on the required activities needed to overcome your challenges.?Take a good long self assessment of your activity that is typical for any given work day/week.?Then calculate how your activity must change in order to get to the desired result.?You must also determine any areas of weakness in your game that need development in order to strengthen these skills.?You want to engineer your plan down to the ridiculous to isolate?activities that you have total control over.
• Have Measurable outcomes / Progressive Steps: Don't expect to get results right away.?You need to look for progress rather than instant results.?Define measurable steps that are progressive and move you towards your defined win. Again, write these down and track your progress towards them.
• Advertise your plan to everyone: Someone once said to me 'If you are brave enough to tell everyone your goals, you will accomplish them'.?At first I did not understand this. I thought 'Well that is easy, it isn't hard to say what you want to do, people do that all the time....'.?Eventually I understood the true value in this statement, and what it really meant.?If you are serious about accomplishing someone, TELL EVERYONE YOU KNOW.?Tell you family, your spouse, your friends. Post it on social media, get it out there.?Why??The answer is accountability.?When people who care about you know you want to accomplish something, they will help you!?They will ask 'How is your progress?', they will want updates, when you get discouraged, they will lift you up.?So there will be a significant increase in external accountability, which helps considerably.?In addition to that, once you have told the world your plans, there is an increase in internal accountability.?You don't want to let those around you down, or look like a quitter, so you will have more internal drive to get it done!

Find Mentors.

It is incredibly important to identify people in your life that you can lean on to help you get through difficult times.?Perhaps they've been through it before.?Perhaps they are incredibly mentally tough, or have undying perseverance.?Or maybe they have always inspired?you or are a leader figure in your life.??There are many qualities that make a strong mentor, but you definitely need to choose?mentors who will challenge you and hold you accountable.?You?don't want?someone who will be there solely for the purpose of lifting you up.?You need to pick the people that will offer perspective, don't let you back down, encourage you to keep pushing, and support you when you fall down.?The more?mentors the better, but I'd suggest at least 3.??

So there it is,?3 steps to help you start overcoming the adversity that is holding you back from?reaching your dreams. Accept it, develop a plan, and get mentors.?The key here is that you don't back down.?You must keep fighting, no matter what. Your failures will become valuable lessons, if you let them, and as long as you always get back on the horse.?And the more often you face adversity, the easier it gets and the stronger you get.??So stop walking away from the challenges in front of you, and start overcoming them!