I’m not a miracle worker, but no matter what problem you
throw at me, I can tell you in three words how to solve it: Find a way.
If there’s one life-changing, ever-empowering truth that
disability experience has taught me, it’s that there’s always a way to resolve
or accomplish what we wish – we just have to find a way to do it. It may not be
initially evident; it may not be easy; it may not seem practical; and, it may
even seem ludicrous. Yet, to any challenge or situation in life, there is a way
to resolve it – we just have to find the way.
I often share the story of my shoe laces. For the number of
years of my life, I couldn’t tie my own shoes based on my lack of dexterity and
coordination in my left hand. Now, in the grand scheme of life, not being able
to tie one’s own shoes may not seem like a big deal – after all, there are far
more serious limitations in life – but it was one of the last pieces to my
physical independence. The ability to tie my own shoes meant the difference
between being able to fully dress independently or forever rely on others.
For years, I tried all sorts of shoes, with all sorts of
practice. But, alas, I could never coordinate shoe laces well enough to tie
them. I even got to the point where I could make the loops, but as I went to
cross them, all fell apart. It was forever frustrating, to say the least, right
down to my son having to tie my shoes on my wedding day.
Yet, after years of practice, trial, error, and failure, I
was so close to tying my own shoes that I knew that I could do it – I just had
to find a way. And, so I reanalyzed my process, and realized that where the
issue was, was that when I went to cross the shoe lace loops, my poor
coordination over-extended the shoelaces, causing them to come undone. If only
I had more shoelace length to work with, I could cinch the loops before pulling
the ends out…. And, in that was the answer: get longer shoelaces! Indeed, I
found a way, and till this day, 72” shoelaces are the solution I use to tie my
shoes. It wasn’t that I couldn’t tie my own shoes; rather, I simply had to find
a way to do it.
Finding a way is amazing because it empowers us to find a
solution to any problem rather than accepting it. A task or situation may seem
impossible, but if we truly believe that there is a way to successfully solve
it – we just have to find it – it inspires us to not just try, but try harder,
as well as go into situations with a can-do attitude.
I admit, I’ve become pretty skilled at finding a way, where
when I encounter a challenge, I don’t shy from it; rather, I go into find-a-way
mode. I recently had an opportunity to meet with a business giant. The
individual is bigger than life, worth an estimated $2-billion, and has an
insanely busy schedule. I remember thinking, How am I going to track this
individual down, let alone get an interview? The answer immediately struck me:
Find a way.
I thought for a moment who might have the individual’s
personal contact information – as I wanted to get direct to the source – and
with a single email exchange, I scored both the individual’s and the
individual’s assistant’s contact information. Bingo! I then sent an email to
the assistant, and within 20 minutes, I had an interview scheduled. I ended up
with an amazing two-hour interview. If I had told most folks who I wanted to
interview and where, they would have thought it crazy. There’s no way you’ll
pull that off, most would have said. However, knowing that I just had to find a
way to pull it all together made the seemingly impossible ridiculously easy.
There I was, having flown partly across the country, sitting in the
individual’s stately office, hearing amazing, never-before-told stories.
See, that’s the eloquence of find a way – it immediately
makes the impossible totally plausible. Are you having difficulty accomplishing
a goal? Find a way. Are you struggling to get the results in a particular
aspect of your career that you want? Find a way. Do you want to make major
changes to your life? Find a way. Do you want to live your dreams? Find a way!
No, anything truly worth striving for isn’t easy, nor
without complications. But, if it’s truly worth doing – if you’re truly
dedicated to accomplishing it – there’s a way to do it. Find it. Live it. Never
give up hope, as there’s always a way….