by Fred Stuvek Jr. | Feb 12, 2019
You may not think so at the time, but there are benefits to having incurred adverse circumstances. These are valuable life lessons and help shape your resiliency which is a key trait in being able to effectively deal with adversity. This also affords you the opportunity to develop in ways you may not have been able to if you had not had these experiences. As you encounter adverse circumstances, keep the following five points in mind during your travail:
1. Learning Experience — You need to be tested or challenged in order to learn and grow. Every adverse circumstance is a lesson learned that helps you grow and develop your capacity to deal with future occurrences. If you have never experienced something in your life, it is difficult to know how to react, and just as importantly, to know how you will react. Adversity provides you with the opportunity to learn from the experience and be better prepared for the next problem you will encounter.
2. Challenges are Opportunities — Adversity will challenge you in new ways resulting in experiences you otherwise would not have encountered. These challenges help build you as you strive to make the most of it a bad situation and turn things around. Facing these challenges head on, coping with them, and developing a recovery strategy emboldens you and gives you the confidence to face the next obstacle.
3. Builds Resiliency — These experiences develop your capacity to maintain resolve and determination through the tough times. Stress and anxiety are twin components which affect everyone when dealing with adversity. Being able to effectively cope with the stressors associated with adversity enables you to cultivate a range of skills which makes you stronger, better equipped, and more resilient for future events.
4. Gain Perspective — Times of adversity make us more appreciative when things are going smoothly. You will look back on this, taking satisfaction in the fact you were able to get through it, understanding adversity is not permanent. You will acknowledge adversity is also a state of mind, have a more positive mindset in the future knowing you survived once, and will do so again.
5. Helps with Planning — Another benefit to adversity is you are better prepared for the future. What you have learned about yourself, others around you, and the organization can be the basis for well-developed alternatives and contingency plans that can be expeditiously and confidently executed during the next unforeseen or untoward event.
Read More
by Fred Stuvek Jr. | Feb 5, 2019
All of us will face some degree of adversity in our life, this is inevitable, as life is not a continuous cycle of success and not without problems. You can’t run from it. You can’t hide from it. It will find you. You have to deal with it, embrace it as a learning experience, accept responsibility, take action, and move on.
How you deal with adversity could be viewed as the single biggest challenge in your life. The true test of character is not how someone behaves when things are going well, but how one responds when things don’t work out, problems occur, and events seem to conspire against you. It will help you grow. It will make you stronger, and as John F. Kennedy said “Turn scars into stars”.
Adversity comes in various forms and is normally financially, emotionally, or health related. The event could be limited in scope and duration, or it could cast a wider net wider and be prolonged. Your character is defined not by what you went through but how you went through it. Instead of letting adverse circumstances overwhelm them or drain their resolve, successful people do not give up faced with adversity. They have the resilience, strength of character, and courage to “find a way or make one”, a famous quote from Hannibal to his Generals when faced with the daunting task of crossing the Pyrenees, elephants and all.
As you are faced with adverse circumstances your commitment to what you are doing, your strong belief and faith in yourself, and your mission will help you stay the course. If you have conditioned yourself, both mentally and physically, you are better able to deal with the stress and uncertainty. These experience help shape your resiliency which is a key trait in being able to effectively deal with adversity. This also affords you the opportunity to develop in ways you may not have been able to if you had not had these experiences.
Read More
by Fred Stuvek Jr. | Jan 29, 2019
- Checklist – Putting your goals down in writing is not optional, it is mandatory. You should have a checklist of your goals. Each goal should have objectives or milestones with an associated date that you check off which is also a source of motivation and satisfaction.
- Review – You do not want to lose sight of your goals and your progress towards attaining them. Mind share is important, regular review of your goals keeps them front and center.
- Assess – Determine where you stand relative to the checklist. Develop an understanding of where progress is made, where it is not, and what circumstances or habits are responsible for your lack of progress when there are shortfalls.
- Adapt – Commit to make the necessary changes to get you back on track where there is a shortfall.
- Revise – Be realistic and do not be afraid to make revisions, which will be mostly time related, that make sense.
- Avoid Procrastination – The time is now. Do not allow yourself to put something off simply because it is inconvenient or you lack the resolve. Every time you push something back simply because it is easy or convenient to do so you are reinforcing a bad habit.
- Mindset – Maintain a positive mindset and firm resolve. Understand there will some setbacks along the way. Remain undeterred and continue to move forward.
- Support – Do not be afraid to ask for help or advice from friends or family who are supportive. Disregard the naysayers and the doom and gloomers.
- Celebrate – When you have achieved significant milestones treat yourself. This could be something predetermined or a spontaneous mini-event of celebration. This reinforces the fact that you have made progress and is a further source of motivation.
- Self-discipline – It is imperative you maintain a regimen and routine which is supportive of what you are doing and how you are doing it. Ditch the excuses.
Read More
by Fred Stuvek Jr. | Jan 22, 2019
In my earlier blogs I addressed the importance of goals and the five key factors to consider when setting them. Let’s drill down into this further and define the process for you.
1. Establish Three Goals – Why three? Everything you do affects another area of your life, directly or indirectly, just succeeding in one area does not bring real change. Consider the following:
a. Why is it important to you?
b. What is the desired end result?
c. Set both extrinsic and intrinsic goals to achieve a proper balance.
d. Ensure the goals are realistic and attainable with a degree of challenge.
e. Assign timelines to these goals.
2. Alignment – Your goals should be conducive to your lifestyle, work hours, habits, and personal life. If you set goals which require time you don’t have available or are out of sync with your lifestyle or routine you are merely setting yourself up for failure and disappointment. These points should be questioned:
a. Do these goals align with who you are and what you want to be?
b. Are these goals consistent with your values?
c. Are you striking the proper balance so you do not overtly neglect one area in your pursuit of these goals?
d. Do you have people around you who are supportive of you attaining these goals as it is difficult to go it alone?
e. Are you truly motivated and committed to attaining these goals since half-measures or partial commitment will not get you there?
3. Develop and Define – In pursuit of your three goals what specific actions must you take towards attainment of your goals? Visualize your desired outcome and do the following:
a. List the actions you will have to take for each goal.
b. Assign objectives or milestones for each goal.
c. Put timelines associated with each objective or milestone understanding that the sum total of meeting these objectives all contribute towards achieving your goal.
d. Anticipate the obstacles you will overcome and how you will deal with them.
e. Ensure they are realistic and attainable, but not without challenge since meeting these challenges will make attainment of your goals more rewarding.
Read More
