Unleash Your Potential #23 - Adaptability

Douglas: Welcome to the Unleash Your Potential Blog, what question can I answer for you today?

PathwayPioneer: What steps can I take to become more adaptable? 

Douglas: Thank you for posing this question. If we were in a dialogue together, my follow-up to your question would be, “What does it mean to you to be adaptable?” I suspect that are thinking about this question because life has thrown you some curveballs and you are less than satisfied with how you responded to those situations.

Adaptability is the ability to adjust your thinking or behavior based on changing conditions. Sometimes when we imagine an adaptable person, we equate the phrase “go with the flow.” The opposite is someone who might appear rigid or stuck in their ways.

The first step I can offer you in becoming more adaptable is to realize that there is usually more than one way to accomplish any task. Oftentimes, rigidity is like developing tunnel vision, where you can only see one correct path. For example, if I asked you to write an equation that equals 3, what did you come up with? You might have said “1+2.” What if I then said you can’t use addition? Adaptability would allow you to consider another alternative such as the cubed root of 27. Rigidity would prevent you from seeing something other than 1+2.

This leads me to another step that might help with recognizing multiple paths. When you feel yourself start to become less adaptable, ask yourself, “Are there other ways to approach this problem?” Then list those other ways. Get out a piece of paper or an app on your phone and write them down. The act of writing them will force you to consider multiple outcomes. This alone should help you to be a little more adaptable.

The times when I feel myself being the least adaptable are when other people are offering suggestions. Sometimes it is when talking to a coach or mentor. Many times it is when friends and family offer well-meaning suggestions. I think that for me, this is because I don’t want to be seen as not having the answer. I have equated it with being untalented, or stupid. Remember that being adaptable and accepting there are multiple correct paths also needs to include that there are people other than you that can have a “right” answer. It doesn’t have anything to do with intelligence (see my entry on Growth Mindset) but the fact that the other person has a different experience and perspective than you.

Imagine you are standing in an art gallery looking at a work of art on the wall. You are there with several friends who are looking at the same piece. Afterward, you discuss the piece and you quickly realize that all of you saw something different because you each had a different perspective. The moment you look at the piece, you take in visual input and evaluate it in the context of your accumulated experience, which is very unique to you. You each likely saw the piece slightly differently. Adaptability is being able to accept that you all may have a correct interpretation.

Adaptability allows us to experience a changing landscape and be able to continue moving forward. It can be a difficult skill to develop as it requires us to first acknowledge we don’t know everything and then further acknowledge others may have knowledge and experience we don’t. This can be difficult, especially if you have issues with self-doubt, imposter syndrome, negative self-talk, and others. So in closing, I would encourage you to look at what might be driving your lack of adaptability. Is it fear? What are you afraid of? These are all things to consider as you strive to be more adaptable.

Great job for tackling this issue, it is important to understand and develop additional flexibility. I hope my answer sheds some light on your question. If you want to dig into this concept further, I encourage you to reach out and set up a conversation. In the meantime, check back tomorrow for the next question in the Unleash Your Potential Series!

Be Well!

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