THE POWER OF ADAPTABILITY: HOW TO ADAPT TO ANYTHING LIFE THROWS AT YOU.
Your circumstances force you to evaluate or reinvent perspectives in life and the choices you’ve made. Sometimes these evaluations or reinventions are done by choice. Other times they’re forced upon you. Either way, your ability to adapt to these situations and become comfortable with the ever-changing circumstances in your life will influence your happiness, health, stress, and well-being
The Willingness to Search and Understand
Everyone is ignorant in some way
- The scariest thing is that those who are most ignorant are also the ones who often don’t know it or don’t want to admit it
- If you have never changed your mind about something, you are likely ignorant
ADAPTABILITY CAN BE FOUND OUTSIDE OF OUR COMFORT ZONE
You already know all about your comfort zone – it’s safe and secure, comfortable, normal, easy, and reliable.
- Surrounding it are other places know as the learning zone, panic zone, and magic zone.
What are some examples of adaptation?
Working and going to school full-time
- Being able to change roles and responsibilities
- Running late and not doing your full workout but finding a way to sneak in a 10-minute bodyweight circuit
- These are just a few of many.
Know the rules but also know when to break them
Henry Ford, the father of the modern automobile, founder of the Ford Motor Company, and inventor of the moving assembly line, was an unconventional business leader who challenged his times by insisting on producing affordable automobiles for a mass market
- He paid his employees much more than was common at the time, creating what he called a “wage incentive”
- Advocating “welfare capitalism,” Ford took an unusual amount of interest in the lives of his employees, restricting how they spent their leisure hours
The Magic Zone
This is right on the edge of learning and panic
- Requires great courage, tenacity, and experimentation
- Sun Tzu, author of The Art of War says that to get to this magic zone you have to be willing to expect anything and everything and admit that we might not know what we will find
Why is it important to adapt to change?
The ability to be adaptable reduces stress and anxiety around changes in your life.
What is Adaptability?
Adaptability is your ability to move in a given direction at any time. This may mean physically, mentally, emotionally, or spiritually.
- It’s your willingness to learn, make mistakes, and learn some more.
- Your ability to render adequate feedback and make adjustments or changes in your behaviors that produce positive and productive results.
Final thoughts on adaptation
The ability to take action without knowing the outcome is a driving force for becoming more adaptable
- There is seldom a perfect outcome to any situation but you can create better experiences for yourself by using the power of adaptability
- We’re constantly evolving. Let’s not fight that but instead, embrace the changes, experiences, and lessons we’re learning daily
Why We Sometimes Suck at Adaptation
Adaptation often requires you to stop following the status quo, to get out of your comfort zone, or to break routines.
- In reality, it’s not all bad
- We need our comfort zone every once in a while
- If you’re looking to continually grow, challenge yourself, and embrace some of the uncomfortable then keep reading
- For any of you looking to become the best version of yourself – it will be your ability to embrace the uncertainty
Throw away your mental scripts
Mental scripts are those automatic habits that make life easier for us because you never have to really think about them anymore.
Catch yourself in the act
Don’t dismiss someone else’s opinion just because it’s different from your own.
What are Adaptability Skills?
Adaptability skills are traits you have that allow you to adjust to change within your environment or to circumstances
How do you demonstrate attachment?
Develop a growth mindset instead of a fixed mindset
- The fixed mindset is when you believe you’re either good/capable or not good/capable of something
- You hide flaws in yourself so that you can not be judged
- Focused on outcomes and goals like losing 20 pounds in 2 months
- Often afraid to try new things because you’re afraid of looking foolish, failing, or struggling with it
- Ignore feedback or get defensive when feedback is given to you
- Search deep inside yourself to find passion and purpose
- Growth mindset: believe anyone can be good at anything and that your skills and abilities are because of hard work, practice, and action
- Always trying to learn something new
- Focus on the process of achieving goals and not the outcome
Practice being adaptable
Do something little to break routines every day
- Try a new route to work, go vegetarian for a month, try a new ethnic cuisine, use your other leg to put your pants on, a new exercise routine, have lunch with a different friend or stranger even
Create problems instead of waiting for them
Anticipate failure but expect success
Why is adaptation so important?
Your ability to adapt can increase your chances of being successful in your career, relationships, health, and more
- Adaptability ensures that we stay afloat with things that are to bring us down, allowing us to bounce back from inevitable failures
- The more adaptability we show, the more confident we become