Learn to think like a ship’s captain

Life is like a ship

Success in any endeavor often comes down to how you handle the low points. When you’re sailing, paddling or aboard an ocean liner, there are rough patches in any journey. The ability to handle the rough patches is what makes a captain of any boat, whether it’s makeshift or luxury, so valuable. Essentially, a captain is appointed or paid to know how to handle these moments. A leader is of little use when things are going well. It is when things are going badly that the eyes are turned to him to know what to do and to make the most of his long experience. The value of a leader is known more by his or her ability to handle the headwinds than to take advantage of the good ones.

Imagine that you want to go on an adventure and conquer the world by boat. Your ability to complete this project will not be determined so much by your ability to take advantage of the favorable winds as by how well you handle their absence. The same is true in life, it is your ability to handle crises and difficult moments that determines your long-term success, hence the interest in learning to recognize a crisis, as well as how to overcome it. Let’s take a look at 4 ideas that you will need to assimilate to bring all your boats (your projects) to a safe harbour.

Crises are a part of life

Sometimes what we call a crisis is simply a question mark. Just as the year is characterized by seasons, any project can be characterized by different phases, so the crisis represents the winter. It is the winter that hardens people and forces them to make provisions, to plan a year in advance, to calculate their reserves, to not only believe that the world is only made of bright sunshine. This is why we must accept winter as it is, that is to say, a stage among others before reaching the heights (summer).

Crises are there to make you better

Crises often occur because of lack of anticipation or lack of quality. If we could not avoid a crisis, it is possible that we failed in something. Crises, although they can be difficult and painful, they teach us where our failures were, even if it is the hard way. The crisis is therefore the materialization of an observation, that we can make progress, that we must change our approach, our method, become better in our skills or that we have lost our way in our certainties.

Crises are there to make a selection

Crises are there to select only the most motivated, the best prepared in any project. This is why you should be grateful in some way when a crisis comes your way, perhaps it is an opportunity for you to stand out and take market share if you are an entrepreneur, or to occupy the first places on a podium if you are a sports competitor. Generally, there are endemic crises in every sector, every sport, every situation. If you’re a bit strategic, you’ll have to choose the crises that suit you best before committing your heart and soul to a project. Imagine you want to be a trader but you have an aversion to stress, so it may not be a good idea to pursue a career in that field. You will need to take stock of your skills and see where you have a comparative advantage over your potential competitors. This is why, when choosing a vocation or venturing in a direction, you must take into account your flaws as much as your strengths. It is useless to try to correct your faults, it is much better to enter a competition where you can make full use of your best qualities rather than having to constantly question yourself. The ultimate strategy would be to choose a project in which the crises highlight your strengths, which will allow you to easily stand out from the others. Imagine that you have a greater ability than others to save money. You could then think of occupations in which the ability to save money is critical in a recurring crisis. There are an infinite number of possible projections, the trick is to figure out how you might fare by knowing in advance how structural (and therefore predictable) crises manifest themselves in each project.

Crises help you appreciate the non-crisis moments

What would life be without its recurring crises? Maybe we wouldn’t appreciate it as much as we should. Crisis moments, while occasional and sometimes brief, help us to better see the value of things that may have seemed taken for granted or permanent. Not that we should rejoice in crises, but rather that they teach us the fragility of treasures that we did not see as such. Peace is sometimes tasty and appreciated only by those who have experienced war. So, rather than repeat history, it is better to learn it and thus value peace without having to endure the pain of its absence.

In conclusion:

You must have a strategic vision that consists in choosing or not choosing a project according to your qualities and especially your defects, you must then anticipate the crises so that they do not occur when you have chosen to commit yourself. Finally, you must adopt the right skill when you have not been able to avoid a crisis since it can allow you to develop your skills and distinguish yourself from your rivals.