Connect with us

Success Advice

Turn Adversity Into Your Advantage

Published

on

Image Credit: Unsplash

If you’d like to learn how to turn adversity into your advantage so you can come out on top in life, sign up for the free 90-Day Master Class hosted by the founder of Addicted2Success.com, Joel Brown.


It’s becoming more and more understood that adversity is the foundation of your success. Let’s take that one step further, adversity can be the platform to propel you to your success if you learn how to use it.

If you stay there, if you don’t learn from adversity, and use your struggle as a “stick to beat yourself up with,” you will always have a reason to not change, grow or simply do things differently. That’s the key, your ability to do things differently starts with your ability to think differently and here are the steps you can use to make the most of the adversity.

1. Recognize the lessons

This might make you think, “surely there aren’t any lessons in this.” When you’re struggling, the hardest thing ever is to think positive and you’ll tend to make life very difficult for yourself. By focusing on the lessons first, you acknowledge the fact that things aren’t going great now, but there may be some lessons here that you can learn from.

By doing this, you don’t try to completely flip your way of thinking, you simply meet yourself where you are in the moment, then change your perspective. Whether it gives you the opportunity to be patient or prove to yourself how strong and resilient you can be; looking for the lessons is the initial push to get the ball rolling.

2. Recognize the good

Feeling the momentum shift and helping yourself see more good in the situation you’re in encourages your mind to give you the “feeling good, acting good, loop.” This is how you begin to gradually make progress towards your goals and take your lessons you’ve learned to improve on your past.

You’ll start to let go of the struggle and realise that most of the pain was because of how you saw it. It likely won’t be dramatic, but it’s about shifting your way of thinking that causes you to improve because of the situation you’re facing. Rather than stay stuck because of it.

“Cultivate the habit of being grateful for every good thing that comes to you, and to give thanks continuously. And because all things have contributed to your advancement, you should include all things in your gratitude.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson 

3. Be grateful

Positive feelings don’t typically last long; spending some time with them, long enough for them to sink in, will help cement in the progress you’ve made. It’s all too easy to brush over this but feeling grateful is something that would come easier to you after the previous steps. It’s easier to think positive about things if you’re already in a “good place” mentally.

The actions that you take when you’re tired, anxious, and/or stressed are very different to when you’re happy, excited or grateful. One you’ve shifted away feeling like a victim of your circumstances, you can start to see different paths you can take.

4. Change direction

“What direction do I go down?” is very common for you if you’re in this position. Very often it’s getting clear on this that stops most from ever really changing. It’s not the desire to change, it’s not the will to change, it’s being able to answer the direction question.

If you’re wanting ideas for what you can do, listening to how others do things is fine as long as you understand that what makes you happy will be slightly different. If you start to stray from your own path, you might find yourself feeling disconnected and possibly even “lost.” You will need to make some difficult decisions, possibly even make some people unhappy, to be able to go back to living your own life.

“Make your vision so clear that your fears become irrelevant.”

5. Take the simple steps and build on it

You’re likely feeling more ready than ever to attack this new direction full steam ahead; but, you start to worry, wondering if you’ll make this work. That’s completely natural because it’s unknown, uncertain and not knowing can cause you to be on the edge of action. 

Wanting to know all the steps, being in the research and planning stages can overwhelm you and make it far more complicated than it could be. As you can probably tell, this is more of a mental game than simply taking action. You can be caught making things complicated, adding things in that you don’t need to confuse you, and make you feel like it’s an impossible task.

These are things you do to make sense of what’s going on, but they do slow you down. The way to think about this is doing “what you can, with what you have” given how clear you are right now. Very often, it’s taking action that helps you get clearer on the next steps, throwing bits of new information in as needed.

It’s about progress, moving forwards, and the biggest waves are started with the smallest ripples. But as long as you stay in the adversity or let it keep you stuck and struggling, that is where you’ll stay. You’ll make much faster progress than you think once you get moving with these steps.

How have you used adversity to your advantage in the past? Share your stories with us below!

Michael Brian is an entrepreneur, speaker & podcaster with cystic fibrosis and diabetes; that hasn't let that stop him from following his dreams! Doing the work on himself enabled him to overcome his own fears and low self-worth to be more confident when showing up in his brand and business. Now, he helps other change makers and service-based entrepreneurs do the same.

Advertisement
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Success Advice

How to Stay Calm, Think Smart, and Lead When Everything Feels Uncertain

Let go of the need for constant certainty, and instead, focus on resilience, awareness, and adaptability

Published

on

Leading in uncertain times
Image Credit: Midjourney

When Alexander the Great led his army of 30,000 foot soldiers, with cavalry units bringing up the rear, through the unforgiving Gedrosian Desert, he found himself in a crisis. In the sweltering heat of midsummer, with no clear path forward and little water, the troops grew desperate. But Alexander didn’t panic. (more…)

Continue Reading

Success Advice

7 Strategic Loan Options to Fuel Your Business Growth in 2025

Thoughtful borrowing can be the catalyst that transforms challenges into success stories

Published

on

loan options for startups
Image Credit: Midjourney

Many small businesses struggle to pay back COVID-19 loans to the government. An average startup has over $663k as its loan amount. Combining these two seemingly unrelated statistics explains why more small enterprises are looking into alternative loan types today. (more…)

Continue Reading

Startups

The Young Man’s Guide to Creativity: 10 Daily Habits to Improve Your Creative Mind

10 daily habits you can put into practice right now to improve your creativity

Published

on

How to boost creativity
Image Credit: Midjourney

When I was 22 years old, I became a Top Writer on Medium.

It’s not an easy path. I lived in the Philippines and had never received a penny after writing over 100 digital articles. But I treated it like practice. If I couldn’t get other people to read my work for free, why would they trust me? (more…)

Continue Reading

Startups

If You’re Not Reinventing Yourself, You’re Falling Behind! Here’s What To Do

Reinvention is the secret weapon of high performers.

Published

on

Reinventing yourself
Image Credit: Midjourney

Reinvention is the secret weapon of high performers.

Most careers follow a predictable script. You start at the bottom, climb the ranks, and eventually settle into something resembling stability. But the people who make the biggest impact, the ones who don’t just play the game but change it, break that script. They evolve. They shift. They reinvent. (more…)

Continue Reading

Trending