Very rarely in life do things go our way from start to finish. Adversity is inevitable. For every 43-8 Seahawks Super Bowl win, there are hundreds of situations where we suddenly find ourselves playing from behind. When we find ourselves in such a situation, we only have a few possible courses of action. Let’s take a closer look at these options.
Option #1: The White Flag
Brief Overview of Strategy: When faced with adversity, an individual utilizing the White Flag strategy will fold immediately without putting up a fight. They concede complete and immediate defeat and move on from that battle.
Why This Strategy Might Seem Appealing: Honestly, this strategy is only applicable to you if you are one of two types of people. Either you are so worn out from the battles of life and have completely lost your ability to fight on, or you’re nothing but a quitter who can’t take it when things get tough.
Truth Time: Don’t use this strategy. Ever. Fight until the last buzzer sounds. Even if victory has definitively eluded your grasp, give it your best effort to the very end.
Option #2: Fight or Flight
Brief Overview of Strategy: When we realize that we are falling behind, there are natural chemical reactions that occur within ourselves, especially if the thing we are falling behind is something that we care deeply about. We begin to press and try that much harder to reach our goal. In the Fight or Flight strategy, every second counts. Time is a more valuable currency than thought within this strategy. We want to catch up to and defeat our adversity, so we put everything we have into it as quickly as possible.
Why This Strategy Might Seem Appealing: Of the three choices that this post will detail, this strategy is the greatest risk or reward proposition. It really only works when there is no time left on the clock and you HAVE to do something. Because you are worried about reacting quickly and making up a lot of ground in a short amount of time, there is a smaller margin for error.
Truth Time: Think about the Hail Mary in football. Teams only utilize the play when there is no time left on the clock. If offenses ran that play every play after they were losing, they would dig a deeper hole for themselves. Certainly the reward is high if the play works, but it is not a high-percentage proposition. The fight or flight strategy only works in small bursts. Adrenaline is not a limitless resource. It can only be used in small bursts. Likewise, pressing hard for something can only be done within a short period of time. Otherwise, you burn yourself out, fall further behind, and risk further alienating yourself if your adversity is person or relationship-oriented.
Option #3: The U-Turn
Brief Overview of Strategy: So you’re trying something new. Maybe it’s a new job. Maybe it’s a new haircut. Maybe you’re trying the single life after a long relationship (or even trying the dating life after years of being single). Something happens to make you question things. At this point, you decide not to stay the course. In sports, this might mean taking a younger player out and putting a veteran in his place. This strategy dictates that you turn around and take the quickest path back to where you were.
Why This Strategy Might Seem Appealing: People almost always prefer the devil they know to the devil they don’t know. People crave the familiar. The familiar is safe. It is a known commodity.
Truth Time: You’re never going to move forward while moving backward. Sure, there are times when you realize that you made a truly bad decision and you need circle back to the start. But you must remember that in life, the endgame is progress. The devil you don’t know might actually be an angel all along, but you don’t know because of your fear of the unknown. Don’t let that fear of the unknown preclude you from bigger and better. As Relient K once said “And to go back to where I was would just be wrong… I’m pressing on!”
Option #4: Ride It Out
Brief Overview of Strategy: When adversity strikes, an individual who “rides it out” does not overreact one way or another. This person understands that life has its ebbs and flows and that the quickest path to defeat occurs when you divert from your initial focus. This individual “trusts their training”, so to speak. They take life as it comes. They react when necessary, but they also are well aware of the virtue that comes with patience and waiting. They are cognizant of the notion that their overreactions can be even more destructive than the adversity that faces them.
Why This Strategy Might Seem Appealing: Riding it out might seem like a too relaxed and indifferent of an approach for some. However, this approach allows for patience and a measured approach. It is easier to win the game by letting the game come to you instead of trying to force a victory. When Michael Jordan returned from his first retirement, he had a magnificent game versus the Knicks in his fifth game back. The game was close until the very end. Even though Michael Jordan was the best basketball player ever, he did not try to force a shot at the end of the game. Instead, he found an open teammate and the Bulls won.
Truth Time: We have a better opportunity for success when we adapt to our situations instead of attempting to control them. Let’s look at two examples. In Exhibit A, I bring to you the 2013 Seattle Seahawks. This team could have lost a number of games that they ultimately won. They got off to bad starts and allowed themselves to fall into a hole. However, the team did nothing but trust their training. They believed in their abilities and waited for opportunities to present themselves to get back into the game. They never once strayed from their game plan. Instead, they worked to do their best at the things they could control and worked to adapt to that which they could not control. Because of that, they won a Super Bowl. In Exhibit B, I bring to you a well-natured but often clueless 26 year old male. The young lady he set his eyes on posted something on social media that upset him. His path got a little bumpier. He should have understood the fluid nature of life and adapted accordingly. Instead, he went on a mini-rant in response and created a bigger mess. He chose Option #2 when he should have chosen Option #4. He is very fortunate that she ever spoke to him again after that.
These are some of the choices you have when facing adversity. I can’t promise that any of these strategies provide definitive victories, but I can tell you that some of these strategies will never get you to where you want to be. The next time you find yourself faced in one of these situations, give some thought to the next steps you take. Victory might be right around the corner. Sometimes you just have to ride it out.
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