Naturally, some days are harder than others. That is to be expected. Several times a month I find myself thinking, “Why is this so hard?” Often, I’m overcomplicating things. Sometimes, forces outside of my control have placed me in a constrained situation. Sometimes, it’s a question of dealing with people.
In all cases, things are made difficult by conflict.
But taken in isolation, conflict isn’t a bad thing. In fact, conflict is the root of invention, innovation, and growth.
Think about a time you coasted through a test, or a presentation, or a meeting. Everything clicked, went according to plan, and you walked out of there thinking, “Well that was easy.”
Everyone likes an easy win. But what did you learn from that experience? How did you grow?
Now compare that to a time where you struggled. I once spent a period of several months battling credit card fraud on my ecommerce platform. Due to automation and the way we built our platform, we left ourselves susceptible to credit card fraud resulting in thousands of dollars being lost in a period of minutes.
For nearly 9 months, I was manually reviewing every single ticket purchase on our website before approving a sale.
Not only did this teach me what online credit card fraud looks like and how to combat it, but it taught me about planning, assumptions, and how much I value my own time.
Times of conflict are the times we grow the most and often remember the clearest. They are opportunities to improve our position, sell our products, and form strong relationships. Conflict is a catalyst for action and motivation.
But that doesn’t make conflict easy. Conflict is hard and conflict can be isolating.
The good news is you’ve made it through every conflict thus far – and you’ll make it through this one too.