Posts Tagged ‘Breakthrough’
How to Turn Broken Into Breakthrough
Sunday, April 17th, 2011
Imagine for the moment it’s Friday afternoon, and everything is going great. You’re excited about the weekend and all the things you’re going to do. Then something happens that changes those plans and in a way that you’re not particularly excited about.
That’s kind of how I felt while merrily running down the mountain trail with my dog. As my feet went out from under me on one particularly steep and sharp turn I tried to break my fall with my right arm and instead broke my wrist. After getting over the initial shock and pain in the first few milliseconds, my first thoughts were “OMG, how am I ever going to get all my work done?!”
It’s amazing how much functionality we actually miss when we lose the use of our dominant hand. Now at this point, I have basically two choices. I can be miserable about what just happened, or I can take action.
The biggest impact this incident has on my work is of course my ability to Type, given that I’m a righty (oh, and tying my shoes). Okay, so now is as good a time as ever to learn how to use dictation software! (Which is exactly how this post was written, albeit very haltingly and clumsily).
There will Always be things that happen to us that are totally out of our control. Worry, lament, and gnashing of teeth are really not the preferred coping strategies…
It’s not what happens to us that matters, it’s what we do about it that counts.
W. Mitchell
While a broken wrist is hardly earth shattering (no pun intended), it is still a great inconvenience. However, I truly believe that anytime something happens that we would ordinarily not particularly wish for, it opens the door to some opportunity that we otherwise would not have available to us. For example, imagine how good I’ll be with this &$%#@! dictation software by the time the cast comes off! A new skill acquired that I otherwise never would’ve bothered learning (and for good reason).
Things may be going well for you or they may be going miserably at the moment. One thing is for sure, whatever is happening right now, can change in an instant. Your ultimate success in life and business is determined not by how many bad things don’t happen to you, but rather how you adapt to them when they do.
Breakdown / Breakthrough
Sunday, March 21st, 2010
Every day “good” and “bad” stuff happens to us. It’s inevitable and part of what it means to be human. Now consider this for a moment: what would your business and life be like if you didn’t label (i.e. identify as “good” or “bad”) everything that happens to you? Your experience of life would be very, very different indeed.
Labeling things as “good”, “bad” or something in-between is as natural as, well… survival. That’s because when we label things we have this (false) sense of knowing how to handle it or how it will affect us. The only problem here is that labels are not reality. A crisis that at first appears to be devastatingly “bad” in reality could be the shift that was necessary to open up whole new possibilities. There’s a neat expression for this, it’s called “Breakdown / Breakthrough”.
And likewise, something that at first blush is unquestionably positive (“good”) could in fact be a prison that holds you back from your true potential, or worse. Just take a look at the broken lives experienced by many Lotto winners for proof of this. The point is that labeling our circumstances or the people we meet is a form a judgment. And the whole purpose of judgment is to help us feel secure in knowing what’s what of everything and everyone around us. How ironic that judgment is the one thing that blinds us to what is real…
Judgments prevent us from seeing the good that lies beyond appearances.
Wayne Dyer
Life happens. We can spend our time (and emotional energy) trying to identify what is “good” and “bad”, or avoid the trap of labeling and judging so real possibilities can reveal themselves.
Speaking of what’s real, don’t forget to register for a very special free LIVE video keynote by Dr. Terry Paulson who just wrote “The Optimism Advantage”. He is a world-class speaker (and past President of the National Speakers Association). Just CLICK HERE to register for this extraordinary live session on April 7th from 3:00pm – 4:00pm EDT. I guarantee your reality will grow exponentially by the time he finishes :0)
