I think in life we’re told three HUGE lies… The three biggest lies we’re told in our lives are:
- That life is fair
- That we’ll eventually get to a point in our life where ALL our problems will be gone…
- …and that there’s such a thing as “perfect”
Life is not fair. There are ALWAYS road bumps small or large. And there’s just no thing as perfect. The ironic thing is that’s what makes life special!
It’s the imperfections that make things interesting. It’s the road bumps that teach us lessons to grow. And it’s the unfairness that highlights opportunities for us to win.
And as you embrace these truths… The one thing that you can count on in your life happening — is ADVERSITY.
I’ve had my fair share of adversities in my life. From businesses almost dying, to divorce, to family members getting sick.
In fact, it’s through getting through some of the craziest adversities in my life did I come up with the idea of “Unstoppable” — the idea that no matter what the road bumps – there’s always a way forward…
When you subscribe to the lies that life is perfect, and life is fair, and problems shouldn’t exist, we tend to get blindsided by adversity.
But when you start to stare adversity in the face and treat it as a familiar face — only then do you start to figure out how to deal with life’s adversities in a proactive way.
By now, I’ve gone through so much crazy adversity in my life, I’ve actually developed a framework for dealing with crisis and adversity.
The framework basically works in three parts. When you’re facing a tough situation, you want to map out three broad-based scenarios:
- Figure out the absolute worst case scenario. The nightmare scenario. The OMG — this is horrible scenario. The crazy creative scenarios you dream up while you’re laying in bed because you’re stressed out and can’t sleep.
- Figure out the most likely scenario.. This is what is likely going to happen if you go talk to a few experts who have gone through a similar situation before and you get them to play out where this situation is headed
- Figure out your upside. This is the scenario where you actually come out stronger. Where things work out better. Where this adversity actually turns out to be one of the best things that happened to you. Where you basically make lemonade out of the lemons you were just dealt.
Your JOB now is to:
- Manage for the worst case scenario. Human beings are incredibly adaptable and so are you. So figure out what you’d do. The worst has just happened. How do you rebuild?
- Get comfortable with the likely scenario, because that is what is most likely to happen so get PROACTIVE about dealing with it
- And now that you’ve mapped out the worst case, prepared for the likely case, DO EVERYTHING YOU CAN to get to the UPSIDE scenario
I’ve learned that escapism is the greatest friend of adversity. Only when I learned to stare at adversity straight in the face… Recognize that I’m in a crappy situation… And then apply the tools at my disposal to solve the problem, was I able to get to a healthy relationship with adversity in my life.
My question to you is this: When things don’t go accordingly to plan… When you get that terrible phone call… When you stay up at night thinking about the things that can go wrong… You’re dealing with adversity…
The question is… are you using the right framework to deal with it? Use this three step framework to figure out how you can better deal with the road bumps we’re now facing in our life. Be sure to share your thoughts in the comments below.
And remember… everyone needs a strategy for their life; YOURS NEEDS TO BE UNSTOPPABLE!