Manage Opposition & Criticism
Life isn’t one long race, but lots of short ones.
Every day has it’s own set of things to achieve and challenges to face and they vary from day to day. To be successful is to keep plugging away – we all need perseverance.
A manager once addressed two thousand members of his firm’s sales force during a sales convention:
“Did the Wright brothers ever quit?” he asked his staff. “No!” they responded. “Did Charles Lindbergh ever quit?” “No!” they shouted. “Did Lance Armstrong ever quit?” “No!”
“Did Thorndike McKester ever quit?” There was a long, confused silence. Then a salesperson shouted, “Who in the world is Thorndike McKester? Nobody’s ever heard of him?” “Of course you haven’t!” the manager snapped back. “That’s because he quit!”
Developing perseverance
3 qualities you will need to develop to persevere through the tough times:
Resilience: means you are flexible, you don’t snap easily. Instead, you’re able to spring back when life twists or bends you out of shape.
Vision: we create things in our minds before they are created physically. Without that vision, nothing develops; everything stagnates.
Purpose: You need purpose, because if your reason for doing something is powerful enough, you will stick at it regardless of your limitations.
Keep looking at the positives
- To reach your goal, you’ll have to go through storms
- Storms will reveal how good your foundation is
- You can make a success out of a shipwreck—sometimes you’ve just got to throw things overboard.
- Often the worst thing that could happen turns out to be the best. A fire that burned the Gloria Jean’s Coffees warehouse and offices to the ground actually catapulted us to a whole new level. It set us up for the future.
Fear is a dream killer
Here are some simple strategies to get back to reality:
- Clarify exactly what you are worrying about
- Ask yourself, What’s the worst-case scenario?
- Decide to accept the outcome, whatever that might be
- Do what needs to be done
- Don’t isolate yourself
- Allow your support team to help
- Give the problem to God
Peter Irvine
www.peterirvine.com
Peter is Co-Founder of Gloria Jean’s Coffees, author of ‘Win In Business’ and ‘Building your Business, your People, your Life’ and keynote speaker.
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