We are all faced with tough situations in our life.  They’re unavoidable.  You don’t always have the choice to avoid the tough situation – but you do have the choice on how to respond and achieve the most positive outcome possible.  Over the years I’ve found that if I plan the steps to take ahead of time – when I am not in a tough situation – I can rely upon them to get through.  Here are the steps I take each time:

Relax and take a breath. What is the real risk?  In stress our first response is to tense up.  Our muscles tighten, our field of vision narrows we’re looking for the immediate danger. In these situations, we can often miss the big picture.  The first step in responding to a tough situation is to take a breath – literally.  Pause before you react then inhale slowly and exhale slowly. Now calmly assess the real risk.

“Panic causes tunnel vision. Calm acceptance of danger allows us to more easily assess the situation and see the options.” -Simon Sinek

Decide how to respond. What do we do now?  Now that you have calmly narrowed in on the real risk, you are ready to decide on the best move for the short term – then do it.  Don’t keep analyzing, don’t second guess, just take action to resolve the immediate danger in the most beneficial way for all involved.

“It’s not the situation, but whether we react negative or respond positive to the situation that is important.” – Zig Ziglar

Use it to improve. What do we next? Once you face the immediate response that is needed at that moment, it’s time to evaluate.  You and others will be energized to solve the long term issue.  How did we get in this situation to begin with?  What can we change in the future to not be faced with this same situation again?  It is time to adjust for the next time.  Learn from what happened and build something better.

“When you’re in a situation, you can complain about it, you can feel sorry for yourself, you can do a lot of things. But how are you going to make the situation better?” – Tony Dungy