The inspiration for today's blog actually came from my Internet radio show last night. I had noticed a glitch in the show and so I endeavored to fix it while affecting the show as little as possible. I continued to talk to my guest, told him about the glitch and that we would continue while I fixed it.Long story short, I made the fix and the show essentially went off without interruption. How did I remain calm and find a solution? I remembered an acronym we were taught in Warrant Officer Candidate school, that at the time was taught to all Army officers and warrant officers. It is AIO and stands for Adapt, Improvise and Overcome.
This lesson has applications for anything you may encounter in your life and is especially important given the uncertainty in the world today.
ADAPT
"Adapt or perish, now as ever, is nature's inexorable imperative." - H.G. Wells
When changes occur in our lives and changes are going to happen, how we adapt to them will determine whether it is a positive or negative experience. Being able to adapt allows us to make or accept those changes in a smooth and effortless way.
IMPROVISE
"The ability to improvise allows one to fully tap into their creative core to bring forth a solution to any challenge." - Harry E. Shade
When things do not go the way you expected or do not work the way you thought they would, how do you deal with it? Those that can improvise or to put it another way create a solution on the fly, will do so in a calm and focused manner because they know that there is a solution. All they have to do is look for it and use whatever means are at hand to effect a positive outcome. You want to think like McGyver here.
OVERCOME
"We grow because we struggle, we learn and overcome." - R.C. Allen
The third and final step in the process is overcome. If you can adapt and improvise, then overcoming is the natural result for the first two steps lead us to the end. When life throws use a curve ball, all we have to do is ADAPT and IMPROVISE and the solutions we create we will allow us to overcome even the greatest of odds. Overcoming is really more mental than anything, we know we can overcome something if we can adapt and improvise.
So, once we have the knowing that we can do the first two steps, we can OVERCOME any doubt or fear of the outcome because we know it is assured.
Today, there is a lot of anxiety, uncertainty and fear in the world, most of it put upon us by others. But if we truly take a moment to step back and apply AIO, we will be certain that the outcome will be positive. One thing we need to do is place ourselves in the natural flow of things and try not to fight the current of change.
I know that there are people losing jobs and homes, as well as, retirement money, however those that can adapt, improvise and overcome, will in the end carve out a positive experience in the midst of all the negativity. Maybe we will learn to budget our money better or perhaps learn a new skill and start a new career. The outcomes are of our creation and so we get to decide if they are going to be positive or negative.
Thank you for taking the time to read this today, I am honored that you would do so. I would love to have you share you comments and stories about how you have used AIO in you own life.That way others may benefit from your experiences and wisdom.
May you be blessed always and in all ways.
Harry
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