I was reading Beyond Basketball: Coach K’s Keywords for Success on adversity, which Mike Krzyzewski mentioned that, “what separates good teams and individuals from great ones is the manner in which they handle adversity.”

I could not have agree more with that. Adversity provides an unique opportunity for one to grow, to discover about oneself and to breakthrough personal limits. In his book, Beyond Basketball, he mentioned that, “whenever I face adversity, I look at the problem and then beyond the problem. I look for the positive impact it will have on me, my team, or my family.”

I would never have understood that, not until two years ago when I was in Philippines and going through it myself.

I had stayed in the Philippines for almost one and a half year in 2003 – 2005 in Makati and in Davao City. I stayed in Davao City for about 8 months and I loved the city. I would say it has the best of both world. Being a city, it has many amenities and facilities that come with a city but at the same time, you will get to enjoy peaceful moment at night like in the countryside. Basically it is also a safe place to live in; I remember I was walking alone in the street 2, 3 a.m. in the morning and I did not feel threatened in anyway.

And what about this city that taught me to handle adversity? There was once I had to make a trip to a college which is about an hour or two away by taxi. I was pretty excited to be given an opportunity to present to a group of students. Throughout the journey to the college, I was going through the presentation in my mind and at the same time enjoying the scenic view on the way to the college.

When I reached the college, the students were already in the lecture hall waiting for me to start my presentation. Without any further delay, I set up my projector and the laptop. Within minutes, I was good to go. There was only one challenge; the laptop refused to power up or rather the hard disk had crashed. Basically, the laptop had chosen the ‘most appropriate time’ to break down and had it not broken down, I would not have had the opportunity to grow.

My presentation slide was in the laptop and even if I had a soft copy of the presentation slide, there were no other computers or laptops which I could use. And so I stood there for a moment facing the group of about 20-30 students and their eyes were all looking at me and waiting for me to start. What could I do? I had no choice, or rather I was already given a choice; the show must go on.

I saw a white board just besides me, I asked for a few white board markers and so the show began. At first I was worried as I did not know how I should do the presentation or what I should say; I had never done the same presentations on white board before. But within five minutes into the presentation, I found that everything started flowing naturally to my mind. In fact it was much better if I could say; the session was more interactive and engaging.

Since I didn’t need to follow the presentation slide, I allowed more questions from the student. Do you think the students enjoyed the session? I certainly believe they did.

What occurred that day was not only a learning experience for the students, but also a good learning experience for me. I remember a quotation that states, “Remember that challenges are not there to stop you. The challenges are there to help you grow.” Similarly, adversity provides us with opportunities not only to grow but also to breakthrough the limits that we set for ourselves. Adversity challenges us to change our own beliefs from ‘I don’t think it can be done,’ to ‘it can.’

Life can be unfair at times
When you must maintain Faith
And Never Let Go.

It is especially during the difficult times
That you must live your life
To its fullest potential.
Those are the times to Triumph
Over circumstances
With Hope and Courage.

Life isn’t always easy,
But if you keep Going and Persevere
To the very best of your Ability,
You will gain Strength to manage
The new Challenges ahead.

Each Goal that you reach
Is another important Step Forward.

Believe that there are
Bright and wonderful days
Ahead for you and you will find them.

It is no fault of them that eventually they become like us, because out of concern, many times we ask them to be cautious, to think through, to analyse … any other things except to believe in themselves and to just do it! While I believe that we must not be reckless but we must be ready to take calculated risk and most importantly, we must be ready to take action. When there is a great idea, it must be accompanied by massive action to make it happens. Else an idea or a dream will just be an idea or a dream.

I was sharing with a student last night that it is normal to have self-doubt, but the moment the doubt appears, we acknowledge it and entertain the positive thought opposite to the doubt; entertain the thought of why not. The question to ask ourselves then is ‘How to?’

This morning I shared a video with two students and it too prompts us to think of the possibility and to believe in ourselves. Every successful man and woman were not luckier than their peers or people around them … they believed and most importantly … they took action!

It is no longer the question of whether we can or cannot. As in our study, whether we will score ‘A’ for our examination or test is not so much a question of ability, as in whether we can or cannot do it. However, it is a matter of whether we want to do it; the intention of scoring the ‘A’ in our study. Do you have the intention?

If you have the intention, the next question is, “Are you willing to work hard or put in the effort for it?” A lot of people have the intention to score ‘A’ in their study or to excel in their life but not many are willing to work hard or to put in the effort. Just as a farmer who needs to put in the hard work of ploughing in the field day in and day out. We might ask, “Would ploughing hard in the field guarantee a good harvest?”

I believe we all knew the answer to that question. And yet a farmer is willing to work hard in his/her field because he/she knows that with hard work, a good harvest is eventual. Just as George Bernard Shaw said, “…I did ten times more work.” So the farmer is working harder … putting more seeds to ensure a good harvest.

It is the same today for your study and your life. Working hard and putting in the effort is definite. Scoring the ‘A’ and excelling in life is eventual! Believe and have the faith.

A friend shared this in her Facebook profile a few days back and I thought I will share this with you. Something to ponder on over the weekend. Actually it came at the right time when I was thinking of posting something on failure.

I believe that most of us had suffered failures at several points in our lives; although we may not remember all of them. Do You Remember How You Learned to Walk?

Even before you were trying to learn and walk, didn’t you fall down on your bum first? And for me, the first time when I was learning to swim, I almost drowned. Did you almost drown too? The first bicycle ride, I had bad bruises on my knees. Did you have bruises from bicycle ride too?

Something from the Dark Knight, “Why do we fall, Bruce? So we can learn to pick ourselves up.” Such simple and straightforward truth. More often than not, we have made things complicated through our thoughts and analysis. Should we have just learnt from our lessons and moved on. Do we allow ourselves to fall and then not picking ourselves up?

Thomas Alva Edison did not learn to talk until he was almost four years old and in school, his mind often wandered, and his teacher, the Reverend Engle, was overheard calling him “addled.” And that was the end of official schooling for him.

And yet he went on to become an American inventor, scientist and businessman who developed many devices that greatly influenced life around the world. Edison is considered one of the most prolific inventors in history, holding 1,093 U.S. patents in his name, as well as many patents in the United Kingdom, France and Germany (Wikipedia).

Michael Jordan was cut from the varsity team because he was deemed too short to play at that level. He said, “I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”

Did we just miss how many times Thomas Edison and Michael Jordan had fallen before they raised to greatness? I used to see only how they shot to success until I realized how many times they had picked themselves up every time they fell down. As the saying goes, “the greatest glory is not in never falling but picking ourselves up every time we fall.”