Have you ever had the opportunity to watch Michael Jordan play basketball back in the day, or watch his series that came out? If you did, you’d notice that every situation he came up against, he used to his advantage in some way. If he had the flu, he made sure he pushed through and found a new edge. He’d use the crowd, the other team, or the dying seconds of a game to pit himself against the odds and win. He did this, because he was, and is, a leader. Leaders like Michael Jordan aren’t born though, as most people think…they’re created.
Leaders develop their skills in life by looking for the advantages they can find in the situations they’re in. They look for the silver lining, and respond to the events they find themselves in, rather than reacting to them.
How does a person go from being someone who reacts to a situation, to someone who pivots and responds with positivity, grace, and gratitude?
Pay Attention
I was on a leadership call the other day with my team, and all of a sudden some random guy popped into our conversation. I noticed immediately that he was dressed nicely and in a coffee shop that had a positive, creative message on the wall and so I said, “Hi”, complimented him on his attire and started a conversation. I paid attention to my surroundings and decided I’d take advantage of this opportunity to meet someone new (rather than get upset or thrown off by it) and ended up making a connection for one of my businesses.
What I did was, intentionally decided how I was going to respond to this unexpected event, and looked for the blessing that was innately part of it.
Look For The Gift
One of the things we can do to cultivate this way of thinking is to first, be in positive anticipation that something great is going to happen. What do I mean by this? I mean that you need to find the ‘asset’ – the gold nugget in the situation – that you’re going to learn from, grow your business with, or expand your mindset by discovering. Then grab it and run with it. You have to decide how a situation will serve you.
I was skiing with my daughters once and realized after arriving, that I’d brought two left boots with me. I love to race down the hill and would usually be waiting at the bottom for my kids, having beat them down. I knew I couldn’t do that with two left shoes though.
I still wanted to go skiing though, so I squeezed my feet into the boots. You know what happened? It allowed me to slow down, ski more with my daughters, and at the end of the day…they told me that they’d had the best day ever!
Instead of focussing on the negatives in the situation, I decided to find the positives and ended up enjoying it in a way that I never would have expected. What a gift that was – for myself and them!
Say Yes To Opportunities
When you look at your life and all the things happening around you with a sense of purpose and positivity, you’ll end up feeling more confident, excited and will be more willing to say ‘yes’ to opportunities that present themselves. You’ll be able to problem solve when things go wrong, think on your feet and make any situation great.
I was set to play squash with one of my friends and arrived at the court having forgotten my shoes. Never mind about the pattern emerging here…what I did was, instead of giving up and not playing – I went to the lost and found, found at least one good, pink, shoe and played with that and one bare foot. I said ‘yes’ even though I was faced with a challenge and I even won the game!
Leaders will tell you, and teach you, that being resourceful has way more advantages than being negative and giving up when problems arise. Does that make sense?
Grabbing onto the positives – no matter what situation you’re in – will RADICALLY change your life, because there are so many things that can change your life. True or true?
What’s Great About This?
One of the first things you can do when you find yourself in a troubling situation is to repeat to yourself “Grace & Gratitude”. You can use this or come up with your own version, but what it will help you do is take a moment to focus on being grateful for whatever lesson you’re supposed to learn during the unexpected event you’re finding yourself in. You’ll be able to push aside whatever it is that’s happening so that you can ask yourself ‘what’s great about this?’
I was in an airport a while ago and found out my flight was going to be delayed by four hours. Most people would be upset by this, but instead, I looked at what happened and said “Yes!” right out loud and all of a sudden found myself looking like the crazy guy in the waiting area.
Instead of being upset, I decided to find the good in the situation and went for a walk, I was on the lookout for the person or situation the Universe conspired to present to me during that delay…and you know what? I found it! I ended up talking to a guy while I was wandering around, and made a great new business connection. I’d never have gotten a return on the time I spent there if I’d sat sulking in my seat while I waited for the plane to arrive.
Putting It All Together
No one has a perfect day every day, and we all get frustrated now and then. The important thing, is to practice focussing your mind, with grace & gratitude, and finding the best way through each day and every situation you’re presented with.
If an Army General had his tank destroyed in a fight you wouldn’t see them turning around, packing up, sulking and leaving would you? No! You’d watch them pivot, access more resources, and demand and command that their team become more resourceful to find a way to beat the odds!
My whole point here is that YOU can do the same thing with YOURSELF!!
Command and demand that you become more resourceful in life. Use the time you have to the best of your ability so that you get a positive return on the efforts you’re investing into your life. Do not apologize for being the type of person who is outstanding in discovering how to make a situation work for you!
Step up, and enjoy falling into that mud puddle!
Make the decision to stop the ‘CBCRJ’
- Complaining
- Blaming
- Criticizing
- Rationalizing
- Justifying
and instead, find out how the situation will serve you.
Ask yourself ‘what’s great about this’, and then lean in and find a way to get a return on everything that happens – in your life, to you and for you. By doing this, you’ll continue to grow, learn, and develop, so that you can be a Leader in Your Epic Life!
When you’re ready, here are the 3 ways we can help accelerate your success:
- Listen to the Rock Your Money, Rock Your Life Podcast and enter to WIN the GRAND PRIZE to be my personal, VIP guest at our next Mastermind event
- Explore our 90-Day Massive Action Challenge and master the Top 10 Rules of Success while crushing a big goal in 90 days (or less)
- Take advantage of a FREE Strategy Session with someone on my team to see if it’s the right time for you to level up your peer group and join our world-class mastermind
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