PART TWO

Three Steps to Turn Chaos Into Control

This is part two of my article inspired by Ryan Holiday’s book  “The Obstacle is the Way: The Timeless Act of Turning Trials into Triumph”. If you missed part one, check it out here (link to first post).

There are three distinct steps or disciplines that help you get back into the habit of turning chaos into control.

Perception: discipline of the mind

Action: discipline of the body

Will: discipline of the heart & soul

 Perception teaches you:

• Vision – Focus on the present, and to view events as neither good nor bad.
• Attitude – Why getting emotional, fearful or upset does nothing to help. Remind yourself daily (hourly if you must!) “I am NOT going to die from X chaos.”
• Approach – YOU decide what an event means to you, you choose to adopt a perspective of strength versus weakness, and you opt to have unflappable coolness under pressure.

 Action teaches you:

• Discipline and decisiveness – the characteristics of most successful executives
• To adopt traits such as courage, deliberation, boldness and persistence.
• To decide which action you will take when faced with an obstacle: Run toward, run away, or become paralyzed with fear.
• That “AH HA” moments don't appear out of thin air, in fact they usually take multiple attempts (ergo, multiple failures). And that’s ok.
• Finishing is the most important thing.
• And that failure to act guarantees failure. It doesn’t matter what happens, what matters is what you make of what happens.

 Will teaches you:

• That this too shall pass.
• That your own internal power can’t be affected by the outside world.
• And that you build will through practice, and cultivate it through the art of acquiescence, quiet humility, resilience, flexibility.
• That obstacles in life are actually a good thing.
• And to acknowledge pain or hardship, learn from it, and move on.

 Most importantly, this way of looking at obstacles inspires us to STOP blaming outside forces for what’s happening, and to instead focus inward, at our own attitudes and approaches to the matter.

 Fault? Fault helps nothing. I like to say, being under pressure is a privilege. It means we have something that we love and value so much that we would do anything to protect it. And that makes us lucky people indeed.

To End…

It should surprise no one that when this book was published (back in 2014) it made its way into myriad business verticals, including the sports arena – one area where the appetite for inspirational musings knows no bounds!

But this way of looking at obstacles, and of using them as the gas that drives your success, goes far beyond mere inspirational musings. It’s a very powerful weapon that will help you and your organization get through what we’re in the midst of today – as well as what’s hiding around the corner. Because there definitely will be another obstacle down the road (hopefully nothing like Covid, of course), but yeah, that, my friends, is just life.

The key is to take this current global craziness, and use this way of thinking, to help you focus and be prepared for when it happens.

I sincerely hope you can attend my next Elevated Conversations (details below), because I’m a firm believer that failures and obstacles can be seen as major problems to some, but to the best entrepreneurs and business executives, they are huge opportunities. It’s all in the lens through which you view them.

I’ll leave you with Shakespeare, who put it so well: “There is no good or bad but thinking makes it so.”

And please reach out if you would like to connect. You can drop me a line here.

If you’re interested in exploring the idea that the obstacle is the way to opportunity, my next Elevated Conversations with Colleen O’Connell Campbell is focused on just this.

The virtual event brings together smart investors, entrepreneurs, founders, and business owners in a roundtable discussion moderated by yours truly.

I’m accepting applications. Space is limited. Check out the details here

Space is limited. Check out the details here