Life is full of plenty of ups and downs, sometimes it even has a few sideways thrown in too. It can be difficult to find balance when things don’t go as planned. Everyone wants things to go well for them, but life always has its challenges for us. It’s only natural to want to take control of things, but most of the time we have to accept that these things are out of our control. When something unexpected happens to you, it doesn’t matter what actually happened, but how you use it and move forward.
Here are three easy ways to help you come out on top:
Focus on Your Strength
- Each person has strengths and weaknesses, that’s just how it is. These tend to affect what we do, and we usually focus on our weaknesses rather than our strengths.
- Your strengths are things that you do consistently well, or at a practically perfect level. They’re things that you’re just naturally able to do, things that you get satisfaction from doing. It could be something as simple as making the perfect meal to being a great artist or athlete.
- Focusing on the things you do well rather than the things you don’t do so well makes the most sense. So why don’t we do that? We tend to turn our focus toward the things we don’t do well, only causing us to feel bad about ourselves and doubt our abilities. When you focus on your strengths, you’re guaranteed to get results and even get rid of the negative effects of your weaknesses.
- I once worked with a man that hated public speaking. As he climbed up the corporate ladder, he had to give more and more presentations. He would studder, trip over his words, freeze up, even forget about his points. He knew this was one of his weaknesses, so he focused on turning it into a strength. He dissected his strengths (amazing social skills, the ability to develop rapport with people almost instantly, and a great sense of humour) to connect with his audience. He started to enjoy these presentations, and eventually found a new strength of his.
Set Things Up Ahead of Time
- There will be times where you can start a task a complete it with no problems. Sometimes, however, you might stumble, wing it, and not get the results you wanted. These challenges you face will have much better outcomes if you set things up ahead of time for success.
- Think of what you want to happen. What solution, outcome, or result would be the best. Once you have that clear image, break it down. Figure out what needs to be put into place, what will help you, and what you’re willing to do to get it.
- No matter what lies ahead, you can get the results you want by being clear and putting in the effort to set things up beforehand. This way, you are more likely to get the best result by doing it this way than if you were to leave it all up in the air. The choice is yours.
There’s No Such Thing as Losing
- Life is all about different things to different people. When it’s all said and done, it’s really about doing the best you can to be the best for yourself and those you care about. Sometimes it hard, other times it’s not. As humans we have an unrivalled capacity to learn, develop, and grow throughout our whole lives. This is why we’re able to do the best we can and find new ways to do just that.
- This is why everything we do requires a step forward. Once you’ve taken that step, you can take every other one in front of you. Thomas Edison said just that. If what you’re doing isn’t working out, you try another way. You know what hasn’t worked for you, now you’re bound to succeed in the future.
In all that you do, whether it turns out how you wanted it to or not, there’s the capacity for learning. That means that it’s all part of the process and everything that you do and learn is an important step forward.
There’s no such thing as losing, only learning and growing. So here’s to your continued success!”