Hurricane Irene has upended many lives in our area. Owners of businesses have had to ask themselves hard questions about whether to rebuild, or adapt (one business I know is switching mainly to an online format), or whether just to close. When do we dig in and fight to make it work the way we envisioned, versus trying a new approach, versus letting go and walking away? We don't want to be overly stubborn and "go down with the ship," but we don't want to be too quick to give up on our intentions if perseverance and hard work can bring the success we seek.  

There are no easy answers, but it can help in that decision-making process to be self-aware, particularly around your emotions. Are the circumstances that forced you out of your game plan making you resentful? Angry? Sad? That awareness, the naming of the emotions, can actually create freedom to make the decision and to be o.k. with whatever the decision is. In management we often experience this when an employee decides to leave. "Nooooo, many of us say- I don't have time to have a vacancy. I have all these projects that are in the works, I don't feel like dealing with the impact this will have on our department."... And the inner conversation goes on.

But if I am able to recognize and acknowledge that I'm frustrated, disappointed, and maybe even a little fearful of what will happen now, then I can use that information to determine an appropriate response rather than just reacting from my unconscious feelings. It can be very helpful to begin with self- empathy simply to acknowledge that things aren't going the way I'd like, and once I've done that, I am better able to choose how I'd like to respond to the curve ball I've just been thrown. What helps you when the plan gets changed?

This book is a classic in the change management field because it makes a critical distinction for successfully managing change- the difference between a technical challenge (those that can be addressed with more knowledge, skills or tools) and that of adaptive challenges (those that are more complex and require people to make a shift in their values, expectations, attitudes, or habits of behavior.) My sense is that for most of us curve balls we are given in life are often the adaptive challenges and this book presents six highly valuable principles for leading adaptive work. The content is geared toward an audience that works with organizational change, but the concepts can be applied broadly.