SigmaU Blog

Struggle reveals your true allies and adversaries. 

Facing adversity can be a tremendous gift if we’re open to the impact and opportunity for growth.

Awareness of what you value!

Adversity creates awareness of what's most important to you. When you go through a traumatic experience or life-changing event, you quickly eliminate all the distractions, all the fluff, and you narrow in on what matters most. Typically, it's your core values, it's your family, it's your connections and deep relationships. It's your passion and it's your purpose and everything else seems to go by the wayside. People who have had their lives on the line or their freedom in jeopardy will assure you that when that’s at stake, little else matters. You become keenly aware of your driving “why”.

Awareness of your allies!

Adversity shines a light on who shows up and who shrinks back. Remember, honour, and show up for the people who came through for you. You will be surprised at who...

It’s supposed to be hard! That’s something I yell out when I’m feeling exhausted working out. It’s not meant to berate me or demoralize me, quite the opposite. Reminding myself that it requires effort and it’s going to hurt and supposed to be inconvenient is the key to growth.

This lesson keeps popping up for me and so I thought I’d share some ideas around this notion of “hard”. I was recently listening to an excellent podcast and the person being interviewed shared something I found fascinating. He was telling a story about recruits and how at the end of a grueling fourteen days, most would band together and collectively fight back or quit. Under his leadership he was able to retain 90% of new recruits! How did he do it? Did he make it easier for them? Did he let them get away with things? Did he speak nicely to them, cheer them on or coddle them? Not at all. Everything remained the same except for one key thing. He gathered them...