At each moment we may never know what new challenge we will face in life. It may not be something we’ve ever experienced or trained for. When that happens, it become unprecedented for us. Just like what the people of the Northeastern United States now currently faces in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy that collided with an extreme Nor’easter. New York City is facing a flooded subway system the like it’s never known. And throughout the Northeast we are witnessing similar situations.

During our lifetime, each person will face something they’ve never had to face before. If you’ve always worked at a certain kind of job and then the industry completely dies, that an unprecedented challenge for you. Take keypunch operators. People went to school and worked at their jobs for years, earning decent wages. Then all of a sudden, their work was no longer needed. Each operator had to be retrained or ended up working at a low paying job.

Long before facing any type of unprecedented challenge, it’s important to develop both adaptation and resilience. They are key to being able to move forward and actually thrive when the challenge strikes. Many have been able to take the challenge and grow stronger than ever before, even starting businesses or creating new industries. We saw this during the Great Depression when more millionaires were created than any time in history.

Remember Apollo 13? They faced an unprecedented challenge and adapted to it. Going back to the beginning of this post, you may not face a challenge as great as Apollo 13, but, you can adapt to whatever life throws at you and get stronger than ever before. Or, you can simply let the challenge “whip” you.

Think of what you can do to improve your chances of success, okay?

If you need training, then get it. Most important is to learn to develop the mental toughness that will help enable you to succeed through the most challenging circumstances and turn them into opportunities.

I wish you the best in moving forward.

Bob