Ten Ways to Turn Obstacles into Opportunities
We've all been there: that pivotal moment when you've pushed forward all your best ideas, done the legwork, and it seems that success should be right around the corner. And then comes a roadblock that sends you back to step one. But does it have to be that way? The answer is no, not always.
One thing is for certain; obstacles are challenging. But you can turn them into opportunities. Sometimes all it takes are new insights, new viewpoints, and new ways to effect change. Following are 10 tips that will help you overcome obstacles.
- Change your thinking. Instead of thinking that the obstacle in your path is something you've been forced to overcome, try viewing it as a challenge to conquer. Some of the world's greatest inventions came to be because a visionary simply chose to accept the challenge. Whenever you find yourself confronted by an obstacle, try looking at it from a different viewpoint. You just might find that it isn't such a big deal, and that you can easily overcome it.
- Search for the opportunity within the adversity. Consider the obstacle a necessary part of the experimentation process. One experiment failed, so try another. Also read Overcoming Obstacles to Excellence for more tips and tricks.
- Strive to control your emotions. How do you react to frustrating situations? Are you passive? Aggressive? Assertive? After you've identified the specific issue, take a deep breath and try to remain calm. If you need to confront someone, be specific about what happened and how it made you feel. Then get your point across without hanging on to your anger. If you need to solve a technological problem, take a walk around the block to get your mind off it for a while. The idea is to remove your self emotionally so you can think logically.
- Seek out new opportunities. Be constantly gathering new sources of information so that when one door closes, you're ready to open another one. Keep yourself open to new insights and ideas and respond to them when they come your way. Ask for help if you need to. Smart leaders know how to use the resources that are available to them, and that includes assembling a talented team to spark business success.
- Outsmart the obstacles. Roadblocks pave the way to success, so it's necessary to develop a knack for navigating around them. Be tough, keep your team together, and don't give up. Also, recognize that objections are a good thing. If someone is straightforward enough to raise an objection, it gives you a chance to battle-test your plan and make it fire proof.
- Accept responsibility for your errors. Great inventions wouldn't be great if they were simple, and visionaries wouldn't be great if they weren't willing to take a few chances along the way. Sometimes risks pay off, and sometimes they don't. If you take a chance and it turns out to be an error, be humble enough to own up to your mistakes. Then pick yourself up and re-chart your forward course.
- Keep trying. Said Lance Armstrong said after his fifth consecutive Tour de France win: ''Sometimes you have to survive in order to win.'' Lance's words hold true in business as well. You can overcome many obstacles just by continuing and not giving up. Check out Overcoming Obstacles to Increase Performance for some additional worthwhile information.
- Maintain your sense of humor. It never hurts to laugh at adversity. At least it never made a problem worse. So give it a shot and throw a chuckle at the next obstacle that places itself between you and success. Sometimes all you need to do to lighten your burden is to find a little humor in the problem.
- Use the difficulty to your advantage. Mistakes and obstacles cause stress and discomfort, and they can also be your opportunity to show how tenacious and courageous you are.
