Think about Superman at the beginning of his story. He’s pretending to be mild-mannered Clark Kent. He wears glasses, a tweed jacket and a fedora while writing average copy for a city newspaper. In his spare time, he pines for a beautiful and talented reporter who has no idea he’s interested in her. I’m sure he is a nice guy, but let’s be honest, he is no Superman.

Then along comes Lex Luther. This super-genius has evil plans for Metropolis and no moral hold-ups about pursuing those plans.

I’m sure that Clark Kent would prefer Lex Luther never entered his city. Clark would rather continue his comfortable life and vain pursuit of the girl of his dreams. His life might not be exciting, but it is safe, predictable, and something he can handle.

It is also a life that keeps all his Superman abilities hidden. Bringing out the true strength of a superhero requires a super-villain. Without Lex Luther, there would never be a Superman. Just a lovestruck nerd writing mediocre copy for a local newspaper. The villain makes the hero.

Your life is like that also. It is the challenges you face that bring out your real abilities. It would be easier and more comfortable to keep doing what you know you can handle, but you can’t grow that way.

Keeping your problems small keeps you small.

You will face difficulties in your life. Everyone does. What separates the successful from the unsuccessful is how they handle those challenges.

As a general surgeon practicing acute care and trauma, I have faced my share of challenges. I have developed a philosophical approach to difficult situations that you can apply to transform your obstacles into advantages.

See your challenges clearly.

The human brain is wired to perceive threats. This served our caveman ancestors well in a world with saber-toothed tigers. But our wiring can prove disadvantageous in the modern (largely, saber-toothed tiger-free) world. That is because most threats we face are not fatal, but our caveman brains continue to perceive them as if they are.

See the obstacles in your path as challenges rather than threats.

Challenges can motivate us to try harder. Threats frighten us, which shuts down our reasoning and brings on our fight-or-flight response. That response robs us of the ability to respond creatively and come up with innovative solutions to our challenges. So what can you do?

Don’t panic.

When I face a difficult challenge, my mind tends to go into catastrophe mode. I begin to think, “What if I can’t handle this. I will screw it up. I’ll lose my job. Get sued. I’ll end up living under a bridge and die alone.” But when I stop this stampede of anxiety, I realize that it’s doubtful I will end up dead under a bridge.

The human brain has two parts, one emotional and the other rational. At times like this, the emotional brain tends to run wild. It takes a conscious effort to bring the rational part forward. I like to imagine my rational mind is interrogating my emotions.

I ask myself, “What’s the worst that could happen?”

“How likely is that outcome?”

“What is more likely to happen?”

“What would I do if that occurs?”

Often what we fear most is the unknown. Once we make our fears explicit and check them in the context of our intellect, those fears shrink, and we can regain control.

Be objective.

Step back from the situation and view it from a dispassionate distance. I like to imagine the problem is happening to a friend and not myself.

Think about your situation as if it were happening to a friend who needed your advice. How would you see the problem differently if you were not a part of it?

What advice would you give to a friend?

What reassurances would you offer?

Now take that advice to heart.

Reframe the problem as an opportunity.

There are always two ways to view a problem; as a disaster or an opportunity. Ask yourself how you can reframe your challenge as an opportunity. What new skills can you learn from this? How can it make you stronger or better? Often the challenges that most stymie us are our best opportunities to grow and shine.

Focus on what you can control.

We make ourselves crazy by trying to control things that are not in our power. What we can control are our thoughts, actions, opinions, judgments, attitudes, and perspectives. We can’t control what others think and do; all we can control is how we respond. As I like to remind people, “You can’t control how other people drive, but you can buckle your seatbelt.” Take full responsibility for what you can control and let the rest go.

Take Action.

Complaining accomplishes nothing; taking action does.

Trust the process.

If you have perceived the problems correctly, then the action you need to take should be clear. Put that process into motion. Don’t try to solve the whole problem at once. Instead, focus on the next step you need to take to bring you closer to a solution. The important thing is to keep moving. As Ryan Holiday put it in his book The Obstacle Is the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials into Triumph (Amazon), “The process is about doing the right things, right now. Not worrying about what might happen later, or the results, or the whole picture.”

Experiment.

Odds are the process will have obstacles of its own. That means experimenting with different possible solutions. That is not failure; it is how science works. You try one little experiment, see what happens, and then alter the procedure and try again. That is why it is smart to proceed in small experiments and frequently check the results. Never see a failed experiment as a failure. Instead look at it as automotive innovator Henry Ford put it, “Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.”

Persist, persist, persist.

If it is worth doing, it is going to be hard. If it has never been done before, there will be no roadmap, meaning there will be missteps. Never mistake a slip for a failure. It is a bit of feedback on which way not to go. The important thing is not that every step taken be perfect; the critical element is to keep taking steps. Never stop. Never give up. Setbacks are the price of commitment. So ante up and keep moving.

Willpower

The willpower to follow through and get the job done is lacking in those who never succeed. So how do you prepare yourself for the inevitable rough patches ahead?

Anticipate failure.

Things will go wrong. That can’t be avoided, so plan for failure. Think about what could go wrong. Then plan out in advance how to respond if it occurs. In surgery, I call this “Using Murphy’s Law Against Him.” I think through what could go wrong during an operation and then plan how I will respond if that happens. Based on that planning, I make sure all the necessary equipment and supplies are ready before starting the operation. Over the years, I have found that if I prepare for “anything that can go wrong,” Mr. Murphy will leave me alone.

Recognize that some things are outside your control.

I recently had the experience of caring for a man that weighed nearly 500lbs. That level of obesity is a problem because hospital equipment is not engineered for humans that large. In this case, one of those things was the CT scanner used to diagnose abdominal pain. Without using this valuable tool, I was at a significant disadvantage in diagnosing and treating this morbidly obese man. It was not my fault this man was so fat, but it was my problem, and I needed to solve it. The patient’s weight was outside my control, but my attitude was entirely up to me. So I took control of what I could and worked the problem.

Focus on your “why.”

The German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche wrote, “He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.” Know why you are doing what you are doing and remind yourself of that as needed. A strong why is a great motivator when the going gets tough. The best whys often focus on someone else or a goal more significant than yourself. If you can’t come up with a good “why,” then you may be on the wrong path.

Keep a sense of humor.

Some of the toughest challenges I have faced have become the best stories I get to tell. Keep an open mind, find the humor, and know that even if you are not laughing now, you will get a good laugh out of it later.

Prepare to begin again.

There is a Haitian proverb that says “Beyond the mountains, more mountains.” If you hope you can overcome one challenge in your life and be done, I must disappoint you. There will always be more challenges. My teenage son complained that after completing a problematic math unit, the teacher moved on to an even harder one. I explained to him that it’s like a video game. When you complete one level of the game, you “level-up” to the next and more challenging level. Life is the same way. Prepare yourself for more and harder challenges; this means you are winning the game.

Conclusion

You will face challenges in life. How you choose to respond to challenges will be the difference between success and failure. You can experience losses along the way, but you haven’t failed until you quit trying. So take the time to step back. Engage your rational mind to quiet your emotions, and look at the situation objectively. Then reframe your problem as an opportunity and get to work. Trust the process and proceed in little experiments. Test the results and make adjustments as needed. Expect failure so you won’t become discouraged when it happens, and it will happen. Remind yourself, “Why” you are doing what you are doing, and persist until you reach the end.

You are capable of more than you think. Now, get busy.

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Originally publish on The Ascent on Medium.com.  You can access the original article here.

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