the art of turning tough times into triumph the art of turning tough times into triumph

The art of turning The art of turning tough times tough times into into triumphtriumph

*It’s often during life’s most difficult times,

*that we discover our most critical hidden strengths

*And that we forge our most important capabilities

*Question # 1:

*What is the one quality you most like about yourself?

*Question # 2:

*Can you think of a time in your life when you first discovered or developed your higher level of adaptability?

*People discover or develop their most important qualities when times get tough

*At some point, you hit the bottom (disintegration)

*And then you reintegrate (bounce back) around some new ideas – ideas that include a really important quality or adaptability

*To continue to move up the competitive ladder, there is always a tougher disintegration

*People are too concerned about getting the right people,

*when they should be concerned about the people right.

*The Army does this by focusing 10 % of the effort on getting the right people,

*And 90 % on getting the people right .

*Pressure always generates anxiety

*You need to have the right type of anxiety

*there are 2 types of anxiety

*Type 1: the fear of change

*Type 2: the fear of what will happen to you if you don’t change

*Anxiety 2 always exceeds Anxiety 1

*The job of the leader is to convert Anxiety 1 to Anxiety 2 by showing what can be done about the situation.

*Christmas ornament: hold shoulder high, drop it and it shatters – falls apart

*Orange: hold shoulder high, drop it, and it plops, lands with a thud, bruises

*Rubber Ball: hold shoulder high, drop it, and it bounces back, pretty high! – grow stronger

*Ability to bounce back

*How do you improve your resilience structure?

*Learn new ways to deal with setbacks

*Avoid reverting to what you always used to do

*Mental aspect to an effective bounce

*See reality clearly

*Treat causes, not symptoms

*“We control,” not “they control”

*Hold hands in traffic - stay together

*Mental Toughness

*1 .. Embrace the bounce

*2 .. Manage the anxiety

*3 .. Manage the mental factors

*4 .. Manage the money

*5 .. Manage the mission

*6 .. Manage the morale

Think of these as concentric layers of a ball, each outer layer dependent on underneath layers

*Life is adaptation, repeated disintegration and reintegration in the face of change.

*Never a matter of IF, but always WHEN

*Successful people disintegrate and reintegrate quickly and successfully

*Most resilient people are good at giving up old ways of thinking, and of adapting new ideas and approaches, which can significantly influence the depth and duration of the drop

*Leaders need to learn how to (1) absorb and contain anxiety when anxiety levels get high and (2) master the art of turning one kind of anxiety into another

*Shifting the fear from “what might happen to us” to “what might happen to us if we don’t change” helps to relieve organizational stress

*See things as they really are –

*Avoid reverting to old ways of thinking and acting

*Avoid being influenced by wishfulness, which can cause an underestimation of the situation

*Involve other people in thinking through the issue

*Involve outsiders – more objective, less prejudice

*Emphasize ‘we control” vs “they control”

*Hold hands in traffic – stay together

*Ability to generate value, by providing value

*Act as a shock absorber – balance the drive to expand with the need to protect

*Act as a strategic compass -- prioritize -- don’t focus a large amount of time and energy on a low amount of return

*A sense of purpose that is the central organizing principle of everything you do

*Highly specific, clearly stated, and widely embraced goal that carries with it a strong sense of the imperative

*Mission is the thing upon which all the other things are based

*Morale - Firmness in the face of danger, failure and difficulties

*Leaders who strike a balance between decisive action and thoughtful consideration

*During difficult times, face the facts squarely and strongly reinforce a belief in the ability to solve whatever problems are being faced and emerge even stronger as a result. The trick is to stress both at the same time

* it is the people in an organization who will, in the end, determine the morale