Have you ever heard this phrase: turning the obstacle upside down? It’s about letting the obstacle create the path that you must navigate. I recently read an excerpt from a book about obstacles and it made me sit back and really think about how we overcome obstacles every day.

Each obstacle may be unique, but the response to an obstacle is the same: anger, fear, and frustration. Instead of learning from these obstacles and developing skills to advance, we simply do nothing, destining ourselves to repeat the same process (and subsequent anger, fear, and frustration) over and over again. From here it’s easy to place blame on others so we don’t have to deal with it.

What so many of us don’t realize is that obstacles create opportunities to transform a weakness into a strength. Failing is a gift. You can’t have success without failure, which means great success will require great failure. What does that mean, exactly? It means that you must embrace your failures, which might seem like a foreign concept or make you uncomfortable. By embracing your failures you create strength and resolve to keep your eyes open and on the obstacles ahead of you, allowing you to navigate a way through them. Obstacles will test your resolve every single time. The question then become about your willingness to tackle those obstacles and clarity on what those obstacles entail. Use it as fuel to turn it around and create a benefit.

Don’t deny obstacles exist; use them as fuel to turn it around and create an advantage. Face your obstacles so you can begin to dismantle them.

The obstacles have now become your path.

We always want things to go smoothly at ZMac and they don’t always seem to. This is partly because of our definition of what “smoothly” is and partly because we sell something we have no control over. Understanding that the path is littered with obstacles and this is the path should help bring some clarity.  How we predict, expect, embrace, and communicate obstacles is what makes us different. We can’t sell smooth or perfect unless it is correctly defined. There is no such thing as perfect in transportation. We get better each time we are presented with this challenge. We will encounter obstacles but they can’t block our intention.  We can adapt to any situation that presents itself as long as we have the will to do it.

 

Cheers,

Jeff