Leadership and Change Management in Business | Part 6: Take Action

If you’ve ever endured a life ambush, you understand the common effects: The mental-emotional tidal wave can present very real physical, biochemical and cognitive effects as the mind and body react by default mechanisms to the perpetual stress. If you’re in the midst or on the verge of this, hold on. You may not know any other way, but there is one. This article focuses on the REACT action step “A.”

If you feel overwhelmed, paralyzed or crushed by adversity, and you believe that you are trapped by your circumstances, you’re in what I call a life ambush. In any crisis, being well prepared to handle adversity will be the key to overcoming it.

Of all that transpired to save my life during and after that enemy ambush in 2007, only two had been within my control. One of them, according to the medical teams who put me back together, was my rock-solid physical fitness, which had prepared my body for its best chance at survival and healing through the extreme compound trauma. If Physical Leadership hasn’t already been a consistent focus for you, I recommend you make it your primary goal starting today. Start here …

The sooner we each face it, the better: Much of life on Earth is beyond your control or mine. Only by embracing that fact can we fully realize the value in developing one of our greatest individual super-powers: self-control. Self-control is the key to effective self-leadership, and excellence in self-leadership is the key to overcoming the adversity, savoring the fruits, and even leading others in life. And it requires strength, balance and discipline …

One lucid hour in my hospital bed, I awoke to a somber yet critical reality: If I didn’t define my future and my plan, somebody else would. I understood my new mission: Get off X. Once you’ve identified your own path off X, plan your course of action and communicate it clearly to your support team.