Self
Development Best Practices
Overcoming Adversity
How to be calm, cool and effective in dealing with any
problem in life
By Brian Tracy
Published: April / May 2008
You will have to deal with countless problems and
difficulties throughout your life. They never end. The
only question is, “How good are you?” when it comes to
overcoming the inevitable adversities of life.
Here’s a question for you: What are you made of? What
are you really made of? When push comes to shove, when
the rubber meets the road, when the chips are down, what
lies at the very core of your character?
You learn what you’re really made of only when things go
wrong and you are tumbled, end over end, by some
adversity or setback that hits you like a Mack truck
coming out of an alley. Since your behaviors on the
outside are the real indicators of who you are on the
inside, only by observing how you behave when things go
wrong can you tell what you really have inside you.
Let’s make one thing clear at the beginning. Life is a
continuous succession of both small and large problems.
They never end. No sooner do you get control of one
situation when you are hit by another. Life is a process
of “two steps forward and one step back.” When you
become a great success, you simply exchange one type of
problem for another. Before, you had small problems with
limited consequences; now you have large problems with
enormous consequences. No matter how smart and clever
and careful you are, you’ll face challenges,
difficulties and sometimes heartbreaking adversities
every day, week and month of your life.
And thank heaven for that! You couldn’t possibly have
become the person you are today if you had not had to
contend with adversity on your way up. Perhaps your
chief aim in life is to develop a noble character, to
become an excellent human being, to become everything
you are capable of becoming. Only by contending with
challenges that seem to be beyond your strength to
handle at the moment can you grow more surely toward the
stars.
The starting point in dealing with any difficulty is
simply to relax. Clear your mind. Get yourself into a
state where you’re calm and cool and in full control of
your emotions and senses. Back off mentally, and become
as objective as possible. Step back and look at the
problem with a certain amount of detachment, as if it
were happening to someone else. When you can analyze
your adversities clearly, you sometimes see
opportunities to turn them to your best advantage.
Remember, too, that you are never sent a difficulty that
is too big for you to handle. Whatever problems or
adversities you face, you have within you the resources
to deal with them. You have the creative ability to find
a solution to your problem. You have within you, right
now, everything you need to deal with whatever the world
can throw at you.
Now, here are three steps you can take immediately to
put these ideas into action.
First, treat every problem or difficulty as if it were a
“test,” sent to see how capable and competent you are.
Look for ways to grow and benefit, to “pass” the test
with high marks.
Second, stay calm no matter what happens. The longer you
can stay calm and relaxed, the better decisions you can
make and the faster you will be out of your difficulty.
Third, ask other people who have had the same problem
for their advice. Don’t try to solve it all by yourself.
And finally, no matter what it is, say to yourself,
“This too, shall pass.”
Brian Tracy is the bestselling author of more than 42
books, published in 40 countries and translated into
dozens of languages. Brian is a world renowned speaker
and seminar leader, addressing more than 250,000 people
each year throughout the US, Canada and in 40 other
countries.
Brian is Chairman and CEO
of Brian Tracy International, and President of Brian
Tracy University, a private on-line University for Sales
and Entrepreneurship. He can be reached at
www.briantracy.com,
www.briantracyu.com or 858-481-2977.
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