The old proverbial phrase, “When life throws you lemons, make lemonade” (originally attributed to Christian anarchist- Elbert Hubbard and later by modern authors to Dale Carnegie) sure hit home with me the past week. I have had a small orchid of lemons, many of the technical kind and I have been squeezing the life out of them.
Lemons come in a variety of shapes, colors and sizes as do life’s little and not so little challenges. The neighbour’s dog barks all day while you are working, the pesky flu wipes you out for a week, natural disasters, the stock market crashes, relationships go pear-shaped or in this case lemon-shaped and the big lemon- when a loved one passes away. Then there is the mother of 21st century lemons, when technology fails and your life as you know it comes to a grinding halt.
After spending considerable time researching computers, with the help of my wonderful tech savvy partner and then spending the best part of a day test-driving computers in store, I finally decided upon my faster than the speed of lemons and lighter than an eagle’s feather computer. Hooray! All systems go which was good as I had an imminent V.I.P. coaching session via Skye and numerous deadlines to meet.
Having scheduled a day off line so that my amazing IT guy could load all the programs from the old to the new computer, and less than 24 hours after purchase and still downloading files, my new pride and joy did the unthinkable – the adaptor stopped working, the battery could not charge and it all went to black.
More valuable time spent on the phone to the 24/7 call center speaking with Mr Robot man who advised me that I had a D.O.A – yes that’s Dead On Arrival. The S.O.P. from HQ in Malaysia was, “We need to sort out what’s causing the problem.” An earth shattering revelation followed by “You have three choices, 1.) You opt for a new adaptor or 2.) You get the computer repaired or 3.) You get the computer replaced. Here’s the kicker – I had to make my decision immediately.
WOW, awesome Mr Robot man – in all fairness he was simply following the S.O.P. – the script he had to work with, however the options didn’t work for me and he picked the wrong girl to go with the medical metaphors. Having studied anatomy, physiology and psychology, I have considerable experience working with “sick” (and fully sic) people not to mention gob-smacking exposure to death and dying and dead people (this was of course all internal dialogue on my behalf). No, I was not yet willing to accept the D.O.A. decision.
“OK, so If your S.O.P. is to roll out the medical metaphors then lets first establish that the patient i.e. my brand new computer, does not yet have a diagnosis.
I have not taken it to the store for an adaptor test to establish if it is an isolated problem with the specific part or if it is a problem with the computer/hardware.”
As this conversation was going on at around 9.30pm and considering I would not normally be on or in the business at that time, and we’re already on the way to a big carafe of lemonade, let’s fast forward to my evaluation and re-calibration of the situation.
I decided that our man in Malaysia could not assist me further at 9.30pm in Sydney, Australia. I politely thanked him, ended the conversation and then did the following:
- I made the decision to turn up at the store where I purchased the computer at open for business the next morning to communicate with the department manager to expedite a solution. Remember you always want to speak to the person with the authority to make the “outside of the box” (as my computer now was) decisions.
- I allowed myself a short period of feeling peeved and disappointed and to grieve – after all I had been very excited with my new resource and was now potentially planning its funeral.
- I created a “state change” from peeved and disappointed to jolly by finding something humorous to have a good old belly laugh at and that I did for about 20 minutes.
- I imagined my preferred outcome i.e. a simple adaptor replacement on the spot the next morning at the store. I planned to meet with the department manager first thing the next morning. Before going to the store, I called them (anonymously) to ensure that they had more of the same model in stock to provide for a speedy replacement.
The lemonade turned out magnificently with an easy and friendly communication with the department manager. I had a new adaptor in my hand within 20 minutes and was off to bigger and sweeter adventures.
How do you deal with life’s lemons? Do you pull a sour face, purse your lips and feel awful or do you see an opportunity to get some juicy experience out of them?
Here is my mindset recipe to turn life’s lemons into a juicy opportunity for positive transformation, creativity and even some fun.
First step is to model our friends at the Bureau of Meteorology and categorize the lemon storm i.e. three categories as set out below. The second step is to identify the necessary action in response to the specific category – also set out below.
Category 1: You can live with and accept the situation even if it hurts
- The situation does not require immediate action or action later or can be simply resolved with resources such as time, patience, humour and possibly rest
- The situation does not require you to seek out a solution
Category 2: The situation is currently uncomfortable and impacts on life and or business/work
- This requires action as soon as humanely possible and most likely in the imminent future
- Make an action plan/strategy immediately and prioritize
- Identify the resources that you need to resolve the situation. Resources might be to recruit the help of a professional, technology, time, money and support from a friend or colleague, etc and of course a sense of humour
Category 3: This is the mother of all lemons. It’s a hurricane of lemons coming at you.
- This situation requires quick decisions, immediate attention and response as failure to do so could have serious ramifications for you personally or professionally
- Identify any possible immediate solutions and make an action plan prioritizing tasks and delegating when relevant
- Call for professional help if necessary. If the lemon is of a purely personal nature, you might need the support of friends or perhaps you need to be alone to breathe, meditate, rest or re-calibrate
Remember whatever is happening in your life it is your perception of the situation that affects your response, so “Keep calm and make lemonade.”
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