LEADING CHANGE: The ADVERSITY Lesson
Yet Another MYTH that Leads to MISUNDERSTANDING of a CONDITION that most all of us will face...
The Adversity Lesson
It’s been said that adversity builds character. It sounds FAMILIAR to many. Probably to you as well.
Having heard something before, maybe over and over again, means in many cases, you don’t question it or try and understand it.
That means MOST individuals rarely view or accept it as FALSE or LACKING or a flat-out MYTH when it comes to either CHARACTER or ADVERSITY.
And the SEMINAL message here is that IT IS— BOTH FALSE and LACKING in each case.
To me, it is yet another FAMILIAR MYTH; like TIME is MONEY or some other misguided message that is all too often accepted without questioning.
That’s not how I learned the character lesson, nor what was revealed to me in times of adversity.
The adversity lesson is more about “moving” than about character.
The adversity lesson is very much about character, it’s just not about building character.
Character is more of a leadership lesson, and while adversity doesn’t build it…it can certainly play a part in the evidence (or lack thereof) of character when we’re faced with challenges and adversity.
President Lincoln once said the greatest revelation of an individual’s character comes not in how they handle adversity, but in how they handle great power.
Here’s the SEMINAL lesson on this one—Adversity moves you. Or it should.
It makes you uncomfortable with the present/current/continuing (adverse) condition.
It can cause you to feel some level of discomfort or pressure with the status quo and make some type of adjustment. In short to move away from this situation or condition.
Another way of saying it is WHEN THE PAIN of THE SAME (status quo) becomes GREATER (at least in your own mind) than the PAIN OF CHANGE, the CHANGE or MOVMENT or COMMITMENT to it, can begin.
It’s as fundamental as Native Americans who moved their villages when seasons changed and food supplies moved with them. It’s why birds and animals move with the seasons (and their food supplies) or perish because they did not.
Overcoming adversity requires some sense of vision. And a belief or faith that the condition is temporary and you can take actions that will have a positive impact on this adverse situation if you’ll just MOVE.
Adversity might be used by the Creator of the Universe to move us from a position of (some level of) comfort that may be good for a season, to a place that can cause such a level of discomfort or pain that we are compelled to change.
We are compelled to move!
Sometimes it is the only way we would ever have left the old place for the new place that is our destiny or our purpose. It’s an Old Testament lesson that proved its worth in moving the children of Israel from place to place to their ultimate destination with pillars of fire and smoke and manna that was their portable food source.
Things happen in each of our lives that can cause pain and fear and doubt.
Losing your job or your house or a loved one can cause a variety of adverse feelings and conditions that provoke you to change something in your life.
In some cases, even to change it for the rest of your life.
Handling adversity is a lesson we should learn well.
For as the seasons change adversity will also return in some form or another.
Washington Irving once wrote about being bruised in a new place. He said,
“There is a certain relief in change, even though it be from bad to worse, as I have found in traveling by stagecoach.
It is often a comfort to shift one’s position and be bruised in a new place.”
When was the last time you were bruised in a new place?
Adversity is best confronted by moving, and having the vision and faith that doing so will make a difference in your life and how it works out.
Have a great week,
Michael
EDITORS NOTE:
Michael York is an accomplished AUTHOR and SPEAKER...as well as the Co-Founder and Host of CETV.
In 2022 He was named “Most Unique Leadership Coach” by Corporate Vision International, and in 2023 was awarded the “Transformation Coach of the Year” by Wealth and Finance magazine.
He is an award-winning CONSULTANT and COACH retained by ORGANIZATIONS for his contribution to the improvement of HUMAN POTENTIAL, PERSONALLY as well as PROFESSIONALLY.
He is the RADICAL IMPROVEMENT CATALYST behind major advancements with his clients over two decades and the EVIDENCE of his EXPERTISE is confirmed by empirical RESULTS, some of which can be seen at www.MichaelYork.com