The ability to adjust to different environments, unexpected changes, people and circumstances is highly important for your personal growth and success. Thanks to a high level of adaptability, leaders stay strong, relevant and optimistic during hard times. These hard times including periods of failure, financial problems, family or work issues, and bankruptcy.
Regardless of the situation, leaders aim to shape their new environments and turn their failures into opportunities. If you’re unwilling to adapt to something new, here are a few baby steps to try in order to become more adaptable in life.
1. Stop whining
What do you do when something terrible happens? Say, ‘I’ll handle it,’ or ‘God, it’s the end of the world and my life’?
Majority of people start whining as soon as they find themselves in a difficult situation. It’s normal but this reaction leads to nowhere.
If you’re one of them, don’t stay at a standstill. Instead, learn to accept the situation, adapt to it and move on.
2. There’s no ‘right’ and ‘wrong’
Eliminate ‘wrong’ beliefs from your life. We used to believe that many things are ‘wrong’ and must be avoided, but it’s not the case if you want to be successful.
Be bold enough to try things that others run away from. This trait has helped many successful people build companies, corporations, and fortune.
3. Improve your coping mechanism
The way you deal with personal and professional setbacks may significantly affect your future success. Discover your coping mechanism and consider changing some aspects of it.
If you usually switch strategies to overcome various life challenges, try to forge ahead, learn from mistakes and try again. Don’t run away from them. Instead, change what’s not working with your coping mechanism.
4. Be open to change
New things aren’t necessarily bad things. No matter how you slice it, changes make our lives better. Unless you’re doing something that can damage your health and overall life, feel free to experiment with spiritual, personal and professional worlds.
See Also: How to Become a Spiritual Badass – The 20 Laws of Spiritual Power
5. Have the whole alphabet for your plan
Successful things don’t happen overnight. And this is where you may need the whole alphabet rather than the first three letters of it. When Plan A doesn’t work, switch to Plan B. If it still doesn’t work, move to Plan C. If 20 plans don’t work, move to Plan W or Y. This way, no change will scare you.
6. Engage in a positive self-talk
I’m not telling you to sit and talk to yourself every morning or evening. That’s kind of madness, right? But positive self-talk every now and then can help you adapt to any changes faster, especially if you have no one to encourage and support you during the rough times.
7. Stick to your natural inclinations
If a situation doesn’t come naturally and you have trouble coping with it, turn to your natural inclinations. If you’re an extrovert who draws the strength and inspiration from talking to other people, no matter whether they’re family members or total strangers, make sure you talk to them.
If you’re an introvert, spend some time alone in order to analyze the situation you are in and find a solution. If you’re introverted extrovert or extroverted introvert, follow your intuition and do what you feel is right to you.
8. Think big
You can greatly improve your adaptability by learning to think big. Break through the limitations you’ve set for yourself. Let go of them. Expand your horizons. Set realistic goals and you will never feel like you failed.
All of these will not only help you be more adaptable in the future, but will also show you the road to success.
See Also: The Power of Thinking Big
9. Don’t blame yourself
… and others, if you have this habit. Adaptable people know their personalities and they always keep reinventing themselves in order to adapt. They don’t blame themselves for mistakes, failures, rejections, traits and doubts. They do realize that if they can’t change it, they must accept it.
Blaming yourself or others is just a waste of time. Focus on improvement, not the past.
10. Learn how to balance your life
Trying to succeed in all aspects of life is great, but you risk ending up feeling miserable in case of a failure. Create a balanced life, instead. After all, it’s impossible to adapt to all changes in all aspects of life, no matter how strong you are.
When you’re balanced, you feel grounded, calm, clear-headed, inspired and motivated. Take time to look at your life, and figure out the aspects of it that you are either neglecting or paying too much attention to.
You know you’re in a state of imbalance when you don’t good and you’re stretching yourself to fill the gaps.
11. Stop waiting
… for the right time, right place, success, happiness, money, people, you name it. Just stop waiting.
When it comes to adaptability, there’s no ‘right’ moment. You have to take action to cope with the hard stuff. You can either influence or accept it. There’s no other choice.
Adaptability isn’t a part of success; it’s a part of life. It’s vital for a happy life. Although some people are adaptable to circumstances by nature, you can master this skill as well. It will take time, patience and effort, but it will all be worth it in the end.
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Author: James J-Pierre
James is the CEO and founder of Entrepreneurboy. He shares what works and doesn’t work to help motivated individuals take the next step in the entrepreneurial direction. Click here to read his guide on Entrepreneurship.
