I read an article many years ago in a bodybuilding magazine (exactly which title, I can’t remember) on the concept of displaying adaptability. This concept is about working with the situation at hand to continue to move towards your goals.
In essence, it’s a stoic mentality (in the sense of the philosophy of stoicism) of understanding that, in the words of Marcus Aurelius, what stands in the way becomes the way. This article had a profound effect on my life and helped me to ‘keep on keeping on’ in times of adversity ranging from calamity through to minor inconveniences of life.
For example, you’re travelling and you get into your hotel late. You want to get in a good workout before you hit the hay, but on entering the hotel gym you realise they have little in the way of equipment and the workout you had planned won’t be doable. You could either ditch training, throw a hissy fit,… or display adaptability and make do with the equipment or lack thereof to do the best you can.
While this can be seen as ‘making do’ in an inferior sense, often you find that you actually benefit from these occasional breaks from routine. They allow you to become more mentally resilient, they challenge you to think outside the box, and sometimes the stop-gap measure you’ve put in place provides even greater benefits and/or insights than if you had the perfect situation or environment.
At times, a shift in environment or location provides a shift in perspective that can clarify your goals or process or force you to do things that you had been putting off. This is one of the reasons why I occasionally get out of my office and spend an afternoon working from my phone, which forces me to be far more circumspect, clear, and cut-throat with both work projects and communication.
Similarly, taking some time away from devices (your laptop and phone) and having a ‘paper day’ in which you brainstorm, plan, strategise, and write (on paper!) can provide this shift in perception.
Just yesterday my trusty Dell XPS 13 laptop died after 6 years of service. With a final splutter it froze and died and no amount of coaxing could bring it back. With lockdowns still in effect here, and inevitable delays on shipping, even with a rush order on a replacement, I’m left without a workstation of my own for a few days…
And it’s great!
Being forced to display adaptability has allowed me to prioritise planning (biiiig sheets of paper!) and get on top of a few projects that had been drifting because of a lack of focus. Sure, it’ll be great to get back into the swing of writing and creating content more effectively but the brief disruption, rather than being an imposition, has a host of benefits when viewed through the lens of displaying adaptability.
Note: Written from my phone.
