Sometimes the road of success has what appears to be detours. A key business partner shows to be unreliable. A restructuring leaves one off the A-team. The next level up is filled by someone outside the organization. Leaders get thrown all sorts of curve balls and some feel like personal assaults.
Below are three things I suggest when you see what looks like a detour sign.
1) Bloom where you are planted.
This adage means doing the best with what you have been given. If this is where you must be successful now then the best thing to do is make the best of it. New role? Show how this role can make a huge difference in the organization. Business partner crapped out? Accept the reality of the situation and do your best to move forward.
2) Success is what you make it.
Being “successful” is on everyone’s mind, but many have a fuzzy description of what constitutes success. Definitions of success are individual and may or may not include being in a particular seat. Consider a powerful quote from running coach legend George Sheehan: “Success means having the courage, the determination and the will to become the person you believe you were meant to be.”
3) Never give up on your success.
There are times when success seems to come in big chunks and quickly. Other times success can seem to progress in slow motion. In those slow times, do your best, elicit new or better resources and keep moving forward.
4) This one is a bonus…Take some advice from a country song.
When times are tough I would suggest the wisdom in a chorus from a song by Rodney Adkins. “if you are going through hell keep on going…before the devil even knows you are there.” Look at the situation and determine what IS in your control. If there is anything you can do to make the process faster or lessen the unpleasantness…get on with it.
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