Finding Opportunity in Adversity: Lessons from Dare to Be Different

Hello again. Today, I'd like to discuss, if I may, Chapter 12 in my book, Dare to Be Different. When life throws down the gauntlet, people come to me all the time and say, 'I'm going through a tough time at the moment.' You know, we all remember the bombings in London. We remember 911, we all know somebody who's passed in recent years, maybe through the global pandemic, or for any other reason, we all encounter situations and times in our lives that are tough. We don't necessarily know how we'll bounce back.

What's amazing about human beings is that we always find a way to do it, but there are several ways we can accelerate that process when life is tough. I'd like to share a very brief story with a fascinating guest on my podcast, the Sandro 40th podcast, something around for three years, and I interviewed a whole range of people, from those who achieved extraordinary success to those who were just struggling to live day to day.

And there was a young man, I won't mention his name; you can find him on the podcast if you want to search on Spotify or Apple iTunes. However, the reality was that this young man was remarkably philosophical. He was born with a very, very genetic disorder that was called neurofibromatosis, and I learned that this particular condition meant that this young man was dealing with cancerous tumors growing throughout his body. He had an inoperable brain tumor.

He had three on his spine. He was deaf in one ear and blind in one eye. And yet, I've never known anyone quite so upbeat about life, and it has put a lot of perspective on some of the challenges that I face from time to time. And one of the things I learned from this fascinating young man was that, on the flip side, every challenge in life has an opportunity. And, when I apply that basic principle and I look at some of those challenges, and I start to address them by breaking them down and looking for opportunities within those challenges, I find it very, very easy to get back to a place that I want to get to despite all of the distractions and interference around me at that particular time.

So, a couple of top tips are when you feel yourself in one of these positions, which is inevitable from time to time. It's part of life. It's kind of what makes it so fascinating; it's what makes the highs high, but of course, the lows low. But when you find yourself in a bit of a slump, when you see life to be quite challenging, break it down. Look for the opportunities, because I promise you, there will always be opportunities on the other side of those challenges.