Transforming Adversity Into Success!

Adversity University Blog

July 15th, 2006 at 7:49 am

20 Ways of Looking at Life from a Different Perspective

1. It’s not what happens to you but how you perceive it that determines how you will deal with the situation.

2. Behind every difficult person you meet, there’s a lesson to be learned.

3. Instead of saying, “Why is this happening to me, you say, “What can I learn from this?”

4. Trust that everything in life is temporary and that going through different cycles is part of the process. Translation: Life will get better if you just have enough faith to get through this one.

5. We all have a divine blueprint for our lives - there is a such a thing as destiny and it’s up to us to discover what it is through our innermost passions.

6. The power of visualization cannot be ignored - it actually works! Don’t say it doesn’t work until you’ve tried it in earnest. Have you truly visualized yourself having or doing something?

7. God is your partner in life, let Him in and let him co-create things with you.

8. Without adversity or life’s challenges, we would never know what we are truly made of. It is through the toughest times we learn what we’re capable of doing; thereby becoming stronger and more confident in the process.

9. Everything you’ve experienced in life has been in preparation for what’s to come later in life. In fact, you are “life’s perpeptual trainee.”

10. Learn to trust and pay attention to your intuition — those “AHA” moments — they are often right on the nose.

11. There are no accidents. Everyone you meet, everything that has come your way was not an some random fluke.

12. Plan on making a fool of yourself and not take life or yourself so seriously - even God has a sense of humor. (i.e. Tell him your plans!)

13. Go crazy and send handwritten thank you notes to those who have helped you. Gratitude and positive energy attracts success, abundance and more of what you’re thankful for.

14. Be patient - you will be rewarded justly. Dont’t bother seeking revenge - it isn’t worth it.

15. Know that you are making a difference in small and large ways by just being who you are.

16. Refuse to compromise your integrity. People can see right through you and can detect whether you’re genuine or not. If you truly care about your customers, friends, family or business associates, they’ll stick with you through high and low because they know you care about them. In other words, they don’t care what you know until they know you care about them.

17. Fear is misdirected energy and must be redirected into faith.

18. Refuse to compare your progress with others. It will only serve to destroy your confidence. Everyone is at different stages in their lives and if you understand that you’re right where you’re supposed to be, then it won’t matter what others are doing. You are unique with special qualities, talents, skills and thought processes, etc. There is no one like you so how can you compare yourself to others?

19. If you haven’t failed enough in life, you haven’t risked much. Life without taking adventurous risks is downright dangerous.

20. Understand that you do matter - there is a purpose to your life - find out what it is and use your gifts to make a difference.

Food for thought: The list can go on but these are some of the impactful thoughts that have helped me through life’s toughest moments. Can you come up with a list of your own thoughts?

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7
  • Galba Bright of Tune up your EQ
    12:26 pm on September 18th, 2007 1

    Hello Stephen:

    This is a fantastic list. Close to my heart and my personal experience. I would just add

    “embrace every life experience asa learning experience” I got to your blog via the Personal Development List.

  • Stephen J. Hopson
    12:43 pm on September 18th, 2007 2

    Galba:

    Thanks so very much for taking the time to stop by and visit my blog. I’m not only glad you found the list to resonate with your own life’s experiences but that you enjoyed reading through it!

    You must have read my mind because when your comment came to my attention, the first thing I wanted to know was how you found me. And there the answer was, in your comment! I’m glad you found me via the Personal Development list.

    Have a great week!

    Stephen

  • Themton Irani
    8:31 am on November 19th, 2007 3

    Dear Stephen,
    Always something and always so interesting that inspite of my morning busy schedule, I must go through your coloumn…Thank you once again and please keep up the good work…..becouse you may not know how much you words matter to people. Keep well…

  • Stephen Hopson
    8:55 am on November 19th, 2007 4

    Themton:

    I’m glad you take a few minutes out of your busy morning schedule to soak up the energy here at Adversity University. The fact that you took the time to leave a comment says a lot about how much my words matter to you.

    T-h-a-n-k y-o-u for telling me this. I am thankful for it.

  • Lisa Callsen
    12:16 pm on January 31st, 2008 5

    Stephen,
    I’m hooked. Your blog is part of the positive outlooks that I try to implement daily. Ever since I have watched The Secret about a year ago, I’ve been changing the way I think about life and my purpose.

    Love the list.

  • Stephen Hopson
    1:55 pm on January 31st, 2008 6

    Lisa:

    Yes, the Secret really made an impact in terms of clarifying everything I’ve been doing without realizing what it was called. When the Secret came out, I was like “Oh so that’s what it is!”

    Glad you liked the list. I look at it from time to time to remind myself of the items on the list when things are a little crazy.

  • Technotheory.com, by Jared Goralnick
    2:16 am on June 11th, 2008 7

    [...] also does a great  job on his blogger interviews.  A couple worthwhile reads include his ways of looking at life and his discussion of the power of self-compassion.  I’d love to see a conversation [...]

 

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