“For every adversity there is a seed of equivalent benefit.” -Napoleon Hill
How we respond to adversity shows the true measure of a person. Everyone would have PMA if we never had to deal with adversity. The ability to fight through adversity and be made better by it is the one of the cornerstones of a winner. The truest test of our commitment to success is how we respond to tough situations. Our reaction and how we go forward when things don’t go our way is how we truly know that we are taking ownership of our goals. PMA is a powerful tool that teaches us how to cope and deal with problems. Life is hard, bad things happen, and we all mess up sometimes. How we respond to these things determines our ultimate success or failure. We must learn to deal with our problems, become stronger, and come out the other side with lessons learned. Our problems are opportunities in disguise that help us to adjust our course in the direction we need to go.
It is tough to be continually positive because it means that we have to always be productively moving towards our goals. This demands that we face tough times head on and fight through them. When we are confronted with difficulties, our response is a choice that we deliberately make. We can choose the easy way that is surrounded by negativity and leads us to lose, or we can choose to persist and fight.
In adverse times, we are either focusing on the problem or focusing on the solution. It is easy to find problems and quit because the waters are rocky. It is difficult to seek solutions because it takes time, effort and investment to bring in the ship. Sometimes it may take several adjustments to find the answers that lead us to success. However, seeking and finding solutions results in happiness and fulfillment while problem seekers wallow in misery.
When we focus on the problem, we cannot find answers. It is a negative endeavor because our approach to the situation is wrong and unproductive. This negative choice lends itself to people that become good at losing. Being problem focused means that we are putting all of our energy into what is wrong and not how to make it right. It is a search for excuses instead of solutions. I use Tim Kight’s terminology and call problem focused people BCD’ers. BCD is short for blame, complain and defend and is the battle cry for the unsuccessful person. Tim Kight hit the nail on the head when he coined this term. Unsuccessful people prefer to find blame, complain about the situation they are in, and defend themselves rather than be accountable to themselves and the team.
Excuses are the most powerful tools of losers while accountability is the most powerful tool of the winner. When we refuse to be accountable to ourselves and our team, we eliminate all chances for growth. Wisdom comes from learning from our past experiences, both good and bad. The refusal to be accountable to our situation doesn’t allow room for us to learn and get better. Excuses allow us to accept losing as a matter of course. There is no ownership involved with excuse making, and it is an easy way out. We begin to point the finger at others for our problems and become good at losing.
A great truth in life is that we are all exactly where our choices have led us. We are responsible for where we are in life. Good, bad or ugly, we all are in control of our own situations. If we handle our business in a negative, excuse making, BCD manner, we will be unfulfilled and negative in our approach to life.Too many people get jaded by life because they do not liberate themselves by owning their life. They blame, complain and defend their losing actions because of their pride. Pride goeth before the fall and weakens us in the long run. It keeps us from reaching our great and wonderful potential. It makes us negative and nasty in how we project ourselves to the world. It creates a sad and negative life of complaining. We survive and never allow ourselves to thrive when we become negative in our mental approach.
When we Win with PMA, we make a conscious choice to thrive and become the best we can be. When tough times hit us, and they will, we choose to stand and fight through them. PMA makes us bad losers. When we fail, winners take a systematic approach and attack the problem head on. We resolutely believe that a seed of equivalent benefit will come from the effort. Losing eats at us, and we acknowledge the issues that caused our failure. When we do this, we are able to act in a systematic approach that makes us stronger and better from the situation we have just gone through. There is a sure fire plan that gets us through and makes us stronger when we choose to battle back from adversity. This approach is not easy, but it works.
Conquer Adversity
- Respect Yourself
- Eliminate Self-Pity
- Believe in your Mission
- Close Ranks with your Team
- Get Back to Work.
Win with PMA 