Success Step V - You Must Adapt!

You’ve come this far. You’ve stuck it out. You’ve given it your all and you’ve done what you said you would do. Yet things aren’t going the way you were expecting them to. Maybe things aren’t going at all.

That brings us to:

“Success Step V – You Must Adapt!”

Sometimes life doesn’t go the way you want it to. In fact, it’s almost a guarantee it won’t. The best you can do at that moment is to accept it and move on.

If you gave it your all; if you really tried; if you did your absolute best and yet you don’t see the result you were expecting, simply accept it and try again.

Now I know, that’s a lot harder to do than it sounds. After all, based on your decision, your commitment, your plan and your acceptance you should have seen the results you were expecting. But you didn’t. It’s just the way it goes sometimes.

And rather than complaining about it, you must grab yourself by your bootstraps and start again.

Before you do, just review what you did, and most likely you’ll find the reason why you didn’t get what you were expecting; then, make the changes and start over.

As a young boy I remember two tall trees way back at the end of our yard. One tree was a giant oak, sky high, big, mighty and strong with enormous branches. It stood like a fortress, unwavering.
The other was a Canadese, similar to a palm tree but with leaves, very lengthy and thin. The crest of leaves was barely visible from the ground as it swayed in the wind.

One day a severe storm blew violent winds throughout the night. The next day, the devastation caused by the storm was clearly visible: shacks were blown away, roofs were gone and to my utter dismay the beautiful, indestructible oak lay uprooted on the ground.
Yet the Canadese with its slender trunk still stood gently rocking back and forth.

I asked my grandpa how it could be that a powerful giant oak tree was not able to withstand the winds while a puny, skimpy Canadese had no problems surviving. My grandpa answered: “The Canadese accepts the winds and moves with it, no matter what direction it’s coming from or going to. It adapts to the situation. The might oak in its sturdiness does not bent; rather it tries to withstand the fierce storm by staying firm. Eventually the strong winds overpower the oak and it must give way. Unlike the Canadese, the Oak is not flexible. It does not adapt to the situation.”

And so it is in life. Life will throw you a curveball. Anticipate it so that when it happens you are ready for it. Then, just change your course or your plan a bit and continue.
The Chinese have a saying: “A river never flows straight. No matter it keeps flowing until it reaches the ocean!” You need to approach your quest for success with the same philosophy.

A chameleon is able to camouflage itself by changing colors that blend into the environment it’s in. It does this to protect itself. You must do the same. You must adapt to whatever unwanted situation that comes your way. Learn to become like a chameleon and you’ll find your road to success a lot easier to travel.

Over the years I learned to take the twists and turns as miniature lessons. Small, tiny lessons I needed to learn in addition to the big lessons. Once I did I discovered that setbacks are a normal part of life. All I had to do was change my course a bit, alter my strategy a little and before long I’d found myself back on track, stronger and better than before.

On your road to success you must learn to “sway like a Canadese” and “flow like a river”. When you do, you’ll discover rather quickly that no matter what life throws at you, you are ready for it and you can adjust to it.

When you do, an amazing thing happens: You’ll find that life is actually going the way you want it to and you are actually getting what you are asking of it.


Best Wishes;

Lode


Next Issue: Final Success Step VI – Stay tuned.