Factors beyond our control

There are many influential factors in our day-to-day lives over which we have no control. These things can serve as very reasonable and acceptable excuses. Take the weather for example. If it’s pouring down rain, that’s an excellent excuse for arriving late to an appointment or not arriving at all. In a big city, traffic conditions offer a similar excuse. During the last few years, one very common excuse has been “the economy.” Because of difficult and uncertain conditions in the overall economy, people and businesses delay or avoid all sorts of activities. This, of course, makes economic conditions even worse. People don’t spend, businesses don’t invest in new ideas, and economic activity contracts even further. And the thing is, it’s all perfectly understandable because of factors beyond our control.

It’s important to keep in mind, though, that there have always been, and will always be, all sorts of factors over which we have little or no control. If we had always waited until things were perfect before moving forward, no one would have ever accomplished anything. Yes, the weather, the traffic, the economy, and a whole lot of other things make great excuses. But excuses accomplish nothing.

Everything that’s ever been accomplished has been done in spite of all the perfectly understandable and valid reasons that argue against moving forward. Instead of blaming factors beyond our control, we always have the option of finding a way to achieve anyway. No matter what things are beyond our control, there are still a lot of powerful, effective factors we can control. We can think, adjust, imagine, respond, learn, act, move, and collaborate, just to name a few. We can look realistically at the situation, including the factors beyond our control, and figure out a way to do it anyway.

From the greatest challenges come the greatest achievements. Even though there will always be factors beyond our control, we can always find a way to successfully deal with them.