Thriving When Plans Fail | Ep 22

Arjun: 00:00:00

Shit is going to hit the fan. It's inevitable. No plan goes according.

Nothing happens from start to finish without a bump in the road or without a hiccup, something's going to get thrown your way. It might happen very early, which means you're going to need to adapt quickly. And then it may actually happen again.

It might happen right before you take that final step to cross the finish line. Whatever it is, you can't let it stop you from getting done what you need to get done.

And you cannot get caught, because when you get caught, you're finished.

You have all heard the expression in sports when it comes to a surprise result or a major upset, like something that wasn't supposed to happen, like David beating the Goliath, that he got caught, or she got caught, or they got caught.

This isn't in the mischievous definition of the word or the expression, but what it means is that they were caught by surprise and were unable to recover.

In boxing or in MMA fights, you'll hear that he got caught by a left hook or he got caught by that kick and that's why he lost the fight, or that's why he or she was knocked out. In football, you'll hear that the entire defense got caught. They got caught sleeping, and that is why that touchdown got scored against them.

It can even happen in business when a surge of demand that catches the business owner or the retailer by surprise, and now they're suddenly left with a lot of angry customers who probably aren't going to be coming back. Now, just like in business guys or in sports, when you got caught, what's actually happened is that you got exposed.

Exposed for what you don't have, what you are not, or what ultimately you were not prepared for.

If we look back to Covid, which is probably the easiest example that anybody can apply to, whether it was their life or their business, we all got exposed on some level. Some of us got exposed for our lack of mental toughness.

Others got exposed for our inability to deal with something that is so foreign and so crazy that we ended up taking it out on our families or taking it out on ourselves. I know as a business operator that the surge in demand for mortgages and people wanting to move caught my entire business by surprise.

I was not prepared for it. Yes, I wanted to be able to do the business and I could certainly handle any amount of business that comes my way because I won't sleep.

I'll just do whatever it takes to get those deals done and serve all those clients.

But what happens when you have something like that or when you get caught is it exposes all of the inadequacies or all of the shortcomings or the cracks that are in your business, that are in your life. And this is what tells you needs to actually be worked on or repaired.

Because otherwise I wouldn't have known that I had so many systemic issues within my business that was making it impossible to be able to handle all of that demand and that huge surge in business. To the point where we were doing business but doing it very poorly.

There wasn't a high degree of service that was attached to it because we were scrambling.

Now, had I been better prepared for this and actually worked on those systems and put them in place to where things could fly through seamlessly and be able to accommodate all of that demand that was behind it, I would had a much different result.

Now there were other businesses during COVID that were adequately equipped and prepared for the surge in chaos, the surge in demand, the surge in emotion, whatever it might have been. And they were able to meet that moment head on. But that's my personal story of where I fell short.

Now since that time because I was exposed, once I've made those changes, I've made those adjustments, made those hires, applied those systems to make sure that the next time it happens.

Because let's face it, guys, crises and things that happen that are crazy and outside of this realm of possibility are not a matter of if they're going to happen, it's a matter of when.

So I want to be better prepared and I will be the next time something crazy happens that's going to result in a huge floodgate opening of demand for my business.

Now I'm going to share with you how the best minds, athletes and entrepreneurs are able to continually do this where crisis after crisis, they always seem to come out okay. Now people simplistically label it as that person's just really mentally tough or those guys are really mentally strong.

But there's actually something that they have and all of us, you and I on this podcast, can actually start to incorporate this and learn it.

So recently a small group of billionaires were interviewed for a business survey to try and identify where they had challenges along their course of business, how they ultimately got to where they're at, and what were the few key ingredients that they know were absolutely non negotiable in order to get them to the finish line.

There were many that were brought up, some consistencies, but above all, the one single common denominator amongst all of these billionaires was the ability to adapt and it's called the adaptability quotient. Now quite simply put or interpret it, guys, this is just your ability to adapt or pivot whenever shit hits the fan.

You see, whenever something comes at us, people do one of just a few things. They either freeze, they start to cower in that moment and go into retreat mode and just wait for it to end.

It's like a bad storm and they're looking down and covering their heads and just waiting for the rain to stop.

But you're not going to get anything out of that and you're actually going to come out quite humiliated when it's all said and done because you did nothing in the wake of that storm.

Then there's others that see it initially get shocked because we're all human, but then quickly make the adaption or using their footwork to try and move and pivot onto a new pathway so that they can get right back on course. Now, I'm a martial artist, as you guys know, so the concept of footwork is huge. It's paramount in all of boxing or martial arts.

If you stand flat footed, you will get caught. You're not going to be able to move, you're not going to be able to get out of the way, you're not going to be able to plan your next move.

But if you're light on your feet and you have the ability to quickly shift, change direction or move whenever something is coming your way, you're always going to be in business. You're always going to stay in that fight.

You're always going to give yourself a chance at success for being able to finish that mission because you'll never get caught. Now, there isn't any magic formula for actually developing a high adaptability quotient.

What you need to do is actually continually put yourself and pressure situations and embrace them whenever shit does hit the fan. And then take stock and ask yourself or recall, what did I do when that moment actually happened? Did I cower?

Or did I actually go into fight mode and take that moment on move, adapt and get right back on track?

Because let's be honest, guys, if we study successful people and that billionaire survey that I was just referencing earlier here in the episode, if it's working for them, then it's certainly something I want to adopt and incorporate into my life. And I think you should too, as a listener.

So I've got this expression in business that whenever it's raining outside, you can either shout at the rain or you can take out your umbrella and get out there and get on with your day. Now, the umbrella analogy, I know it's quite childish, but still, it actually is pointing to having an adaptability quotient, right? It's raining.

I can't do anything about it. I have to adapt. Or I can choose to play the victim role and say that this rain came out, it ruined my day. I can't get anything done.

God damn the rain. Goddamn the weatherman who told me it was going to be sunny today and I'm just going to stay inside.

It sounds super simple, but these words that we tell ourselves and these strategies and these mental blueprints that we try and incorporate, they really matter and they actually set in and can start to carve out new neural pathways, new action plans for all of us.

So I want you to put together your own adaptability quotient plan for anything that's going to happen in life, that's going to happen in business, or that's going to happen on a mission that you're setting out to accomplish. Because again, shit is going to hit the fan. It's inevitable. No plan goes according. Nothing happens from start to finish.

Without a bump in the road or without a hiccup, something's going to get thrown your way. It might happen very early, which means you're going to need to adapt quickly, and then it may actually happen again.

It might happen right before you take that final step to cross the finish line. Whatever it is, you can't let it stop you from getting done what you need to get done.

And you cannot get get caught, because when you get caught, you're finished.

So as long as you don't get caught with that right hook, with that curveball, with that change in weather, with that turn in the market, with that rise of that pandemic, you'll always be able to adapt, you'll always be able to succeed, and you can weather any storm. I hope you got a lot out of this podcast episode. I look forward to seeing you guys on the next one.