Ten Secrets to Success Through Adapting
Adapting as you go sounds great until you have to do it.
The need to change direction suggests failure or disappointment. Results fell short. Strategies failed. Hard work didn’t work.
One of two things usually happens when you feel you failed. You buckle down and work harder. Or, you throw in the towel, defeated.
Disappointing results make leadership relevant.
Danger:
Perseverance is dangerous when you’re headed in the wrong direction. But, short-term failure isn’t reason to abandon long-term vision. Adapt as you go if the distant future still calls.
Frustration with frustration is distraction.
Leaders always deal with frustrations and falling short. Tough challenges are what leadership is all about. Rise up; don’t run.
Adapt as you go:
The voice of frustration is a gift wiser than the voice of success. The future is found when you adapt as you go.
- Stop fighting the wind; adjust the sail.
- Listen to your disappointments. Are they with others, yourself, circumstances, or …? The comfort of blaming lets you off the hook.
- Define success.
- Evaluate long-term goals. Are they compelling? Do you really want what you thought you wanted? Were you clear up front. Disappointment clarifies better than success.
- Clarify what you’re trying to accomplish in the short-term.
- Stop irrelevant activities. But, don’t stop everything. Passion finds you when you’re moving.
- Align method with outcome. What specifically are you doing to accomplish your goal? It’s surprising how weak those answers can be. Effort often stops at good intentions.
- Simplify. Complexity is the enemy of progress. Simplicity is the result of elimination.
- Determine who you want to be before choosing what to do. How do next steps and current attitudes reflect who you want to be?
- Never let disengaged critics determine your direction or destination. They’re in it for themselves not you or your organization.
What’s important when you’re adapting as you go?
What has frustration taught you?
Adapting becomes “survival” . In the world today many of us do not have a choice, adapting, multi tasking, thinking outside the box, become a way of everyday life or business. Often times we can’t chose to grow into adapting slowly, “BAM” jump in with both feet and no time to look back, which ever way you go into survival mode, it becomes a way of doing business, a way of life, and survival. “Be prepared” the Boy scout motto lives on……
Thanks Tim. I hear the voice of experience! Best wishes for the journey.
Yes Dan, the school of hard knocks LOL Raise the sails and may the wind blow captain! If not plan on paddling alot….
I also find resting in some silence and recognize things greater than my desires will provide me clarity.
Ohhh, nice one. So true.
Great post today Dan,
You know the cool thing the Leader in the sky did!
Made the world go on without me if I think I am gonna quit!!!!!!
See how cool that was? Quitting really is not an option!!! Really the world will wait me out!!! Like a baby being pissed and holding their breath!!!!! Baby starts breathing or the world changes to suit them? Which first?
So I am just not impressed with feelings as I used to be! They change even if I wanted to stay with the cool ones longer!!!
Plus failure is a state of mind. I can change my mind and my mental state.
Even mouth breathing knuckle dragging stupidity can change!!
There were folks in concentration camps who learned what they chose to think was more important than their circumstances.
Bottom line grow up!!!! Stop being a whiny baby, change your diapers.
Study Richard Bandler and NLP and own becoming Master of your Emotions just like Simon Potter told me.
SP back to the rain!!
Thanks Scott. Love the tantrum illustration. I’ve thrown my share.
Me too but figured you could figure that out!!
Have the day you tell yourself you are going to have.
You will anyway, right? Hehe
SP
Adaptation, as Darwin has been quoted as saying, ensures survival. If we can adapt, individually or collectively, we have a better chance of longevity and making a positive impact.
Frustration has taught me to be careful where I place my trust, and to be careful about becoming defined by an outcome, project or another person.
We can only be accountable for our own avocations and reactions. When we try to “fix” those around us, we often find that we are not in exactly the same place mentally, especially when it comes to change and implementing actions related to what new information has been presented.
Thanks Martina. I need to hear more from you. Great stuff. Don’t be defined by your outcome… KaPow!
I can’t thank you enough for all the effort you put in every day to offer these insightful, thoughtful recommendations on how to improve ourselves and the others around us.
Wow! Thanks Jeffrey. Best wishes
A tree that can’t bend under the weight of the ice breaks in the storm.
Thanks Debbie. Now why didn’t I think of that great illustration?
Great post. As I read this, I kept thinking that #7 Alignment of Method to Outcomes should be #1 and then adjusting the sails (#1) doesn’t feel like failure because alignment (and realignment) is part of the process. Just as we buy new tires, rotate them after 5000 miles and realign them as we hit pot holes along the route, paying attention to the condition of our vehicle keeps us going, or sends us to the shop for repairs before we have a total breakdown. Alignment is something to do upfront, and reflection of our efforts will most likely result in revision (realignment) so that we keep heading toward the goal. Always so much food for thought! 🙂
Thanks Vicki. Glad you’re buying in on #7. It’s surprising how often people don’t have good answers when asked, What specifically are you doing to accomplish your goals? We go so busy that we confuse busy with effective.
Frustration – my greatest bane. This is when I find reading your ‘Finding Bright’ blog of a few days ago helps, because frustration is my darkness.
Working hard to find and light the way along a path, when zap – transported to a new path in complete darkness – to start all over. Do this a few times and frustration (along with its partner anger) can block forward motion. It is worse if you are a person that likes to know ‘why’ and there is no time for ‘why’.
As with others, I have found ways to overcome frustration, adapt and move forward. And although I have accepted frustration as part of life, i am not sure it gets easier with practice. Strangely, its so easy to move staff forward when I notice frustration diverting energy and so much harder to move me forward 🙂
Q: “What’s important when you’re adapting as you go?”
I think the key to successful adaptation is having a clear mission for your organization. Simon Sinek, who you mentioned in previous posts this week, articulated the necessity in defining an organization’s “why” before it’s “what” or “how.” Communicate why your organization exists, and adaptation becomes much easier as the decision to, or not to, is held up next to your organization’s “why.” If the adaptation is not in line with your “why,” don’t do it. If it is, then go for it!
I call this learning to play the doglegs. I agree that it is essential to know what success looks like, while at the same time knowing while at the same time recognizing what is or is not non-negotiable. Here are my expanded thoughts on adapting as you go. http://parnassusanalytics.com/2013/10/15/learn-to-play-the-doglegs/
Good and practical tips. I will remember this the next time I’m frustrated. Instead of reaching for a glass of wine, I’ll reach for the dry erase marker and whiteboard!
Diana
I love the idea and ideal of SIMPLIFICATION, and reducing everything to its lowest simple common denominator. For example, creation is about the beginning, and evolution is about continuing,
and some even say adapting.
When I read and re-read this post on the need to adapt and change course as a result of disappointing or unexpected outcomes, my mind could see a leader who slipped on a ladder. Yet, I didn’t see this leader fall all the way down to the ground, rather just a few rungs. So, when we slip we don’t start back up from “zero.” We begin again from the one or two or three rungs where we slipped.
Who knows, perhaps the slip was a self-correcting event. After all, the laws of nature are strictly enforced!
Thanks for the great insight. This is just what I needed to hear. I am amazed how many times you write what I know to be true but desperately need to hear again. Keep encouraging us!
It’s human nature to become attached to the things that are close to us – including our work. We lose all objectivity.
I remember starting a new job, and the advice I received was “Be nice to everyone, they may be your boss one day!”
Be the water, not the rock.
good artical thank you,we hope to be in right direction
sometimes even you failed in first time to find way also maybe second time failed we must honsted with ourself and with other