Craig Johnson's Karate USA

Lesson of the Week.

“Tough times never last but tough people do.” We all have to deal with adversity, from the mild and mundane to the catastrophic. What strengths do you possess that can get you through the stressful times in your life? Try building your C.O.R.E.

 C=Control

What is everything beyond my control?

What can I influence?

 O=Ownership

Where and how I can make a positive impact?

 R=Reach

What the worst that could happen?

What is the best thing that could happen?

What steps can I take that will maximize the positive and minimize the negative?

 E=Endurance

What do I want life to look like when I’m past this adversity?

 More often than not, we are more effective in handling the really big challenges in life over the small ones. More than likely, it is because we are hard-wired for flight-or-fight responses when taking on the big things, whereas the small things are just irritations that cause us to procrastinate and leave undone. If a tornado comes and knocks a tree onto our garage we somehow find the resolve and go into action, but if our printer happens to run out of cyan it is just a major pain in the neck that takes us a week to get to store for more ink.

 In the book, ‘The Adversity Advantage,’ Paul Stoltz and Erik Weihenmayer outline seven ‘summits’ that provide you with the tools to handle any adversity.