Question: Have you been in a situation recently which pissed you off? You ever get to the point where losing your cool seems more appealing than accelerating on the high road?
It happens all the time. Alarm clocks malfunction, our dates stand us up, and douches run rampant on freeways – it’s real out there.
I know. Those days suck. But instead of getting livid and letting your blood boil, imagine if there was an effective approach to dealing with the situations that drive you nutso. Wouldn’t it be cool if there was a way to still rock those days, mastering the situation like a suave monk instead of some off-meds raging maniac?
Guess what… I’ve got a couple world-class strategies you can use to be that cool monk.
Watch this video to learn:
- How to put problems into perspective (when you’d rather put a hole in a wall)
- The game a Roman emperor used to play to *master himself* in tough times
- How to respond to *any* situation in a way that supports you
3 Strategies to deal with shitty situations
So we’ve just learned that there are 3 methods you can use to make the best out of any situation. Let’s start off with the Roman strategy by Marcus Aurelius.
One: The equanimity game
I guess you bump into quite a few situations that make you wanna blow things up when you’re a Roman emperor. Maybe that’s why Marcus Aurelius invented the equanimity game. It’s about one simple challenge:
How quick can you get back to evenness of mind?
When you’re in the situation, try to make it a game to see how quickly you can get back into a calm and relaxed state of mind. It’s not about suppressing our emotions – it’s about embracing them and then bringing your mind back into a balanced state. Equa-Nimity: Evenness of mind!
Two: Putting things into perspective
Let’s put it this way: It’s you vs. the size of your problems.
On a scale of one to ten, how would you rank the problem?
Is it a tiny 2 or an obese 8? Now, how big are you? Big enough to let it slide without getting bent out of shape? Or are you raising hell ASAP when someone disrespects and plays you?
Putting things into perspective like this helps us gracefully glide through turbulent tribulations. It’s not brain cancer, it’s a flat tire. Wheel and deal with it.
Three: The ability to choose your response
The third strategy comes from famous psychotherapist, Viktor Frankl. Dude is the real deal. He survived the Holocaust concentration camps where he was forced to learn how to deal with unimaginable injustices. Frankl concluded that it was the people who were able to find meaning in the situation who were most likely to survive. He suggests that…
Every one of us has the ability to choose how we mentally respond to *any* situation – this freedom can never be taken from us.
When you’re confronted with a situation that would normally make you want to punch a wall, see if you can find a response that would serve you better. Can you find meaning in the situation? Maybe even gratitude?
“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” -Martin Luther King, Jr.
So there you have it, 3 strategies to deal with shitty situations.
The next time something goes wrong, remember these three principles and see if you can apply one of them to the situation. And if you do so, let me know how it turned out!
I’d also love to know your strategies to respond to shitty situations. Do you use the strategies above or have you developed your own? Let me know in the comments below! 🙂
On Purpose,
Jacob!
PS: If this resonates with you, and you wanna work one-on-one with me, I have a few coaching slots open. Send an email to [email protected] explaining why you’re interested in working together!
PPS: This week I’m interviewing Daniel Coyle and Sonja Lyubomirsky! 🙂
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Needed this video last week. Thank goodness we have a coaching call on Friday 🙂
Very powerful message and timely reminder.
Thank you!
T
Love you soul-sibling. Excited to connect with you soon!
Great strategies in deed. I always try to use the "Putting things into perspective" along with … Move on… Now what needs to be done! Just this past Friday had some car issues and right away my mind started to conclude that it would cost me tons of money to fix this problem and of course I wanted to punch a wall, when later I embraced that fact that it wasn’t "the worst thing that could happen" and just accepted the fact that I need to fix it, and then actually turned it around when I realized that at least I have money to fix it "I was grateful", it could have been a lot worse. Thanks for the constant reminders Jacob. Love ya!
Ah, my pleasure. 🙂
And i love that, "okay, now what needs to be done." Thanx for sharing.
The attitude of gratitude in full effect!
WHY do you always publish these things when I need them most? Seriously, I don't understand it. It's funny, I never realize that the video and post could speak to me when I'm working behind the scenes, but once it's published it hits me like a meteorite.
I mostly use the "put things into perspective" approach, because that works almost immediately. I haven't heard of the other two strategies before, but I'm curious to try them (which doesn't mean that I want to attract additional problems into my life. Just to make that clear, Universe.).
Piece, love & pancake
(that's a saying in German…yeah.)
LOL. Cool beans soul-sis, and sweet lil open note to the universe.
Thank you for all you do!!! 🙂
"Spiritual Bitch Slap" LOVE IT…stealing it. I think I need to read Marcus…sounds like good stuff.
It's all yours. 🙂 Enjoy the tough love!
shut the fuck stupid fasggot