5 Steps to Use Adversity to Propel You Toward Success

Adversity is inevitable. At some point, you will face challenges both personal and professional. This could look like a sudden job loss, a personal challenge, financial hardship, health concerns, or professional setbacks.

So what happens next? What do you do when you are faced with a challenge? On the path to success, there will be adversity, but how you respond to it and learn from it is what determines your trajectory. Adversity holds the potential for doubt, fear, worry, or sadness, but it also offers the possibility for growth and success.

Here are 5 steps you can take today to keep moving toward your goals and achieving your fullest potential.

1. Take action: Cognitive behavioral therapy focuses on how our automatic thoughts impact our emotions and subsequent behaviors. If one lets a hardship result in feeling depressed and hopeless, it will negatively impact their behaviors and likely result in inaction or destructive actions. On the flip side, if, when faced with a challenge, one feels inspired or motivated, it will probably lead to taking action and moving toward success. It’s crucial to evaluate the feelings you’re having to ensure they’re not leading to counterproductive behaviors.
2. Build your community: Whether it’s friends, family, or a professional community, it’s important to build your support network. Have you ever heard the saying from Jim Rohn, “You’re the average of the five people you spend the most time with”? It’s essential to your overall mindset and motivation to build a supportive community with like-minded individuals who are trying to achieve their goals and remain motivated in the face of adversity. From membership communities and networking groups to mental health professionals and both family and friends, find people who will keep supporting you as you pursue your ambitions.
3. Be resilient: It is critical to be resilient and turn adversity into an opportunity for growth. Whether you are an athlete facing a season-ending injury or a high-achieving corporate executive, in the face of adversity, change from the anticipated course of action is unsettling.
4. Stay motivated: Whether it’s a personal or professional failure, it’s important to remain innovative and adaptive. This allows you to respond productively rather than get bogged down by the negative emotions that may come flooding in during a challenge.
5. Keep a positive mindset: If you adopt a positive mindset, you can see life’s challenges as powerful motivators. Using the desire to overcome challenges as a driving force can catapult you to achieving success that you didn’t think was imaginable.

Think back to your biggest personal and professional hardships and reflect on your subsequent emotions and behavior, as well as what you could do in the future to redirect toward a positive mindset. This can help you stay resilient and motivated to take action.