Week 4 - Improvise, Adapt, and Overcome

I am a big professional wrestling fan.  Stone Cold Steve Austin always says that when things go wrong, you have to improvise, adapt, and overcome.  Things go wrong all the time in a wrestling match.  While the outcome is scripted, sometimes things just happen in a match or interview and you have to adjust on the fly.  Steve's words make a ton of sense in that context, but I think you can apply them to real life as well.

The motto "Improvise, Adapt, and Overcome" is actually the slogan of the Marines that allows them to deal with physical, mental, and emotional hardship (Cox, 2018).  Wrestlers certainly don't have the same stresses that Marines do, and neither do I.  However, Cox provided a couple ways to implement this philosophy. My personal favorite is to "Train Your Brain" (Cox, 2018).  Cox (2018) suggested that the best way to fight negative thoughts is to immediately think of something positive when a negative thought creeps in.  That way, you build your brain into habitually thinking positive when things start to go wrong. I've always wondered how people deal with negative thoughts.  I seem to get stuck to them.  This may be the answer I've been looking for.

I had a quick trip to New Jersey this weekend.  In order to make it work, I had to alter my schoolwork schedule tremendously.  I even needed to take my laptop with me to do work, something I've never done on a vacation.  However, the trip was worth it to me so I found a way to improvise, adapt, and overcome.  I enjoyed my trip tremendously and found out that I could make a change to my habits by just preparing.  This seems like the kind of attitude I can carry into every change I face going forward.


Cox, J. (2018, January 26). Improvise, adapt, and overcome: Life lessons we can learn from the Marines. Retrieved from https://www.jessicacox.com/improvise-adapt-and-overcome-life-lessons-we-can-learn-from-the-marines/