KEEP IT TOGETHER
There isn’t one of us who hasn’t found ourselves looking around in an important moment thinking, “Well, this isn’t what I had planned.” Even though unexpected challenge and adversity are a regular part of any meaningful pursuit, they still have a tendency to catch us off guard. All too often, we find ourselves struggling to do what champions do - what winning requires us to do - when those moments of testing inevitably arrive.
That's one way those we consider champions set themselves apart - not in their ability to avoid challenge and adversity, but in their ability to overcome it. By recognizing up front that some unexpected obstacles are likely to be a part of their experience, champions prepare a response before their moment of testing arrives. They may not know what exactly might show up and complicate their winning pursuit, but they do know how exactly they'll handle it when it does. Preparing allows them to protect and maintain some really important things that challenge and adversity are always threatening to destroy. It allows them to do something that each of us who say we want to win need to learn how to do. When things get tough, it allows them to keep it together.
That’s a worthwhile directive today. When things get tough, we all need to learn how to keep it together. But it's worth taking a minute to clarify what exactly “it” is. What is it of yours that challenge and adversity are threatening to destroy, and what is it that winning so often requires you to protect and maintain? Here are three possible answers…
1) “It” is your mindset and your approach. When we hear that someone couldn’t keep it together, this is typically what we mean. We point at their poor body language, at their losing behavior, or at some other external malfunction as the problem, but what's happening on the outside is just the symptom of a breakdown that’s occurred on the inside. That picture they created in their minds of effortless success serves as a weak and fragile foundation on which to build some real-life success. For each of us, preparing our mind to handle that challenge and adversity before it arrives makes our mindset more flexible and more resilient when we need it most.
2) “It” is your connection to others. For almost all of us, the pursuit of success is a team game. We recognize that we can't do the big, important things we want to do without some help. And while many teams start their pursuit together, challenge and adversity can make it tough to keep it together. The stress and frustration of an unhealthy team dynamic can sever that connection, and it’s not uncommon to see a team that not long ago said they really needed each other suddenly splintering and fracturing apart. Teammates with a weak and fragile mindset often create connections with others that are weak and fragile, too, and in turn create connections that are incapable of handling the burden of a high-stakes experience. But individuals who’ve built something more flexible and more resilient in themselves are more likely to build that same kind of connection with the people they're working alongside.
3) “It” is your vision for the future. It’s amazing, really, how quickly and easily some of us will allow adversity to dismantle the dreams we claim are so important. More often than not, that dismantling serves as evidence, not of how strong and powerful those challenges are, but of how weak and fragile our dreams are. The truth is, some of us need a more flexible and more resilient vision for the future - one that’s capable of withstanding the long and often painful process that turning a vision into reality often requires us to endure. We’ve got to fortify that vision and the belief that comes with it. Then, when things get tough? We're prepared and ready to keep it together.
Today I'm encouraging you to get busy preparing. You may not know what exactly is to come, but you can decide now how you'll handle it when it does. You can bet that when challenge and adversity inevitably arrive, they'll be threatening to destroy your mindset and approach, your connection to others, and your vision for the future. Preparing today makes you flexible and resilient in your moments of testing, and allows you to do what winning so often requires. It allows you to keep it together.
