Facing adversity

Have you ever been snowed in unexpectedly?

Ever run out of gas in the middle of nowhere?

Ever had an internet outage or a burst water pipe make your office unusable for a day or two?

You've probably had lots of experiences like that: unexpected events that create significant inconvenience and even physical discomfort.

And you know what?

You came through it.

Here's the thing:

Even when a surprise development is really difficult to deal with, most of us come through it just fine.

Sure, it can be a setback, and it's worth planning to try and avoid such things.

But when those things happen — in your career, or your organizational mission, or your team development — remember that you will get through it.

Whether it was caused by your own lack of planning or something completely unforeseeable, that's a question for the post-mortem analysis.

In the moment of trouble, it's important to keep a cool head, lead your team by example, and deal with matters at hand.

Get through the initial "freak out" as quickly as possible, and face this thing head-on.

Because you can.

Whatever the challenge, you will deal with it.

Then you'll learn what you can from it, turn blame and regret into wisdom and experience, and move on to the next thing.

We're people. That's what we do.

All the best,
A.