Adversity and Innovation

"You never know what will come from adversity!"

• Shirlene Remington
  

Adversity and Innovation

Have you ever been overwhelmed with the pace of change? Change is all around us. Technology is changing at an unprecedented pace. The economy has been going through great upheaval which in turn has resulted in personal upheaval. I was with my friends Dave and Shirlene Remington talking about such personal upheaval during a dinner engagement a couple of nights ago

I had met with my friend David Remington earlier during the week in his business. He's one of the most innovative people I know and during my visit I was impressed by the changes he'd made as well as his mastery and use of new technology. But, what impressed me more was what he said to me at dinner.

We were talking about the challenges we've faced over the past four years and the lessons we've learned as a result. That's when Shirlene said, "You never know what will come from adversity!"

She said that, because during our conversation we began to identify all of the positive changes that have occurred as a direct result of the adversity we had faced. That's when Dave said it! "Once you accept the situation and stop fighting the adversity you can move forward." This simple observation revealed invaluable lessons to me.

Some people will fight the change or adversity and when they do that they're stuck in the adversity. You've known people in this situation. They become stuck in the change! So, instead of becoming free from change, they're trapped in perplexing, perpetual change. I think we've all been in this situation at one time or another in our life. Dave's statement taught me that the only way to deal with change is to change oneself. What's interesting about this is that it's counter intuitive.

Change brings about adversity and we want to avoid adversity. It's our natural reaction. But, in this case fleeing from adversity only deepens the challenge and turns it into crisis. We can make our lives better only by embracing the adversity and looking for innovation; by submitting to the lesson to be learned, we can propel ourselves forward in a way that we never could have achieved without being faced with change.

In our society we admire innovators. They are the life blood of our advancement. If you want to have increased self esteem and feel the blood of life throbbing throughout your body follow Dave's advice. Accept the challenges you face. See them for what they are, an invitation to innovate and become more than you otherwise could become without them. Begin today and you'll find that you're more than you think you are and you'll do more than you ever thought possible.