03 Dec Leadership for Thursday 12/3/09
Adversity pushes the envelope of accepted performance.
Until a person learns from experience that he can live through adversity, he is reluctant to buck mindless tradition or challenge himself to press his limits. Failure prompts a person to rethink the status quo.
Adversity provides greater opportunities.
Just about every entrepreneur I’ve met has numerous stories of a setback that opened doors to greater opportunity.
Adversity prompts innovation.
The ability to innovate is at the heart of creativity – a vital component in success. If you want to succeed, you have to learn to make adjustments to the way you do things and try again.
Adversity recaps unexpected benefits.
Some of the greatest success stories can be found in the unexpected benefits of mistakes. Did you know that Kellogg’s Corn Flakes resulted when boiled wheat was left in the baking pan overnight?
Adversity develops maturity.
American playwright William Saroyan spoke to this issue:
“Good people are good because they’ve come to wisdom through failure. We get very little wisdom from success, you know.” As the world continues to change at a faster and faster rate, maturity with flexibility becomes increasingly important. The problems we face and overcome prepare our hearts for future difficulties.
Adversity creates resilience.
A study in Time magazine in the mid – 1980s described the incredible resilience of a group of people who had lost their jobs three times because of plant closings. Psychologists expected them to be discouraged, but they were surprisingly optimistic. Their adversity had actually created an advantage. They were better able to handle adversity than people who had worked for only one company and found themselves unemployed.
Adversity motivates.
Bill Vaughan suggests that “in the game of life it’s a good idea to have a few early losses, which relieves you of the pressure of trying to maintain an undefeated season.” Always measure an obstacle next to the size of the dream you’re pursuing. It’s all in how you look at it.
If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you always got, doing things differently more times than not creates adversity but, it is the avenue to success.