Find out how leaders make it look easy to recover from adversityBy David Kiger

Image courtesy of Lennart Huizing at Flickr.com

A true leader knows that there are tough times and that how you overcome them is just as important as the achievements you accomplish. So, once you’ve understood that it is inevitable to encounter issues and setbacks, all you have to do is make sure you’re prepared. I guess the best place to begin is by understanding that the worst thing you can do in any difficult situations is wallow. The leaders out there that have faced adversity and bounced back, all have this in common. Yes, obviously everyone goes through a grieving period, where they feel bad and reflect upon everything that happened. But how useful is this if it lasts forever? Can you change what happened? Can you do something about it at the present moment to take it back? No. That answer will never change, independent of the situation you are in. What’s done is done. So, the faster you realize this, the easier it will be to make a plan and get yourself back up. Now, being honest this doesn’t happen overnight and it will take work. So make sure you’re willing to put in the work for your dream.

The first step after adversity has hit is to set a deadline to accept what’s happened. This does not mean that you should be in perfect shape financially, work-wise and emotionally, but at least in the latter one you should have accepted and be decided to move on. While you go through this, you’ll most likely begin by replaying what occurred over and over in your mind. This will only make you walk down memory lane experiencing all of the possible emotions that you’ve been trying not to have. But, at this point you have to let yourself feel, understand and lash out if necessary. Once you’ve gone through this, make sure you go over what happened in a different light and analyze where things went wrong or even maybe what you missed. Finally, make sure you realize what you could change in the future to avoid failure next time. Each person is different, so this means there is no fixed deadline you can assign to go through this acceptance process successfully, but it will greatly depend on how important your goal is to you, the time you’ve already invested and if you have other goals that are just as important. At the end of the day you might even get to the point of realizing it’s actually a good thing you failed and decide to move on. But if that’s not the case for you, and you know for a fact your goal remains intact even after the failure, then let’s continue on to how to overcome this adversity like many other leaders have managed to.

Learn a lesson

One of the most important factors is to understand that every time adversity comes around it’s actually a learning opportunity. If we look at the greats, we tend to only see their accomplishments, but most to get where they are have overcome failures once and again. So, the first piece of advice is to realize that every failure will bring a lesson, and what will allow you to grow and be better is to understand and learn from this lesson.  Be flexible with your dreams

Conditions constantly change and evolve, which means we have to be prepared to change or tailor or dream around the new conditions. Be it a new competitor, technology that can be applied or change of customer habits, we have to be willing to modify our goal so as to not lose sight completely of our dreams. If we are not willing to change with the time, we will most likely get left behind.

Share your vision

When trying to accomplish your goal, you need to start involving others in your dream and convincing them how it could all work. Once you have people on board, you’ll at the same time have a network. A group of people that will support you in case of failure.  

Image courtesy of Seattle Chamber at Flickr.com

 Create a shared dream

If you’re going at it alone, start making alliances that will allow your dream and theirs to grow. You can and should count on others that can help you accomplish your goals. Don’t be afraid to reach out, even to who most people might seem like the ideal candidate. By understanding your dream and knowing the other person’s capacities, not everyone might see it right away, but then again not many will understand the true scope and reach of your dream. Don’t get sidetracked

Even though there may be problems, you have to stick through it. The payoff will come eventually, and it will only come if you are focused in making it happen despite some slip ups. This determination is constant in all leaders that have failed and come back better than before. Don’t wait for tomorrow

Finally, if you really are invested in your dream, don’t wait until tomorrow to get started. Start right now.