Adversity is Strength of Mind...

An Arab proverb states, “Smooth waters do not make skillful sailors”. Strong people don’t ask the question, “Will storms arise?” Rather, they ask, “When will the next storm arise?”

I had a colleague who had made a move from public sector to Corporate and was struggling to cope up.  She was given timeline to bounce back or start looking for alternatives.  I remember her putting in so much of hard work that she would work till late hours in night and do everything by herself to get the grasp of functioning of various upstream and downstream processes and within 3-4 months, she was not able to just managed to pull the function together, however, she changed the perception of all the customers which had dipped a lot and topped the six sigma green belt certification. 

At times we as Leaders have to throw our people in deep waters and they eventually learn to swim with the fear of drowning, however it is imperative that we make sure they have the ability to bounce back and keep a close watch on them when they require us to be by their side to learn tricks of the trait.

Tough situations keep happening to all of us but if we don’t take a stride to fly with the fear to fall on ground we will never make it big.  We need to keep reinforcing the thought that humse hai zamaana, hum zamaane se nahi (World is because of us, we are not because of world).  It is a fact that when it gets tough the tough get’s going because mind of tough people is so strong that at the time of adversity they hunt for opportunities, build capabilities and over and above do believe in themselves and their ability to weather any storm.

To be fearless and strong you need to be cognizant of what worst can happen in adverse situation and cover it.  The moment your that side is covered you will be able to experiment and explore. The golden rule which I always follow is keep my liabilities minimal so that there is not much to lose even during the times of adversity and create alternatives which 
help me sail through and the fear is automatically taken care of.

Always remember that initiative, creativity, resilience, morality and values will always make you stronger at times of adversity, you just have to look at the positive side of it.