(Excerpts from Chapter 8 of Secrets of the Young & Successful by Jennifer Kushell and Scott Kaufman)
Listen to the audio excerpt of this chapter on the YSN Secrets Podcast.
Need a little help working through some of the possibilities of what may come? Dealing with a current crisis of your own — beyond the economic crisis? Try this out. It’s something we call TAPPS, and it’s guaranteed to help you see any difficult situation a little more clearly and find ways to cope with it more sanely. TAPPS is a strategic planning process that takes us through five simple steps to uncover what we would do if a major life challenge or decision were to hit by identifying the best possible approach. It also happens to be useful when trying to prevent a particular situation from happening or just lessening the impact from something we’ve already been confronted with. This is what it stands for: Truth, Awareness, Preparation, Prevention, Survival.
Truth: We begin by being truthful with ourselves about what’s going on. What is the issue at hand? Be candid. Be clear.
Awareness: Second, we have to gain a strong awareness of the options we have and what the realistic ramifications of our choices could mean. This is where our Real World training comes in. To ensure we’re as up to speed as we can be on the latest research, data, trends, and information, we have to do some serious research and investigation. Relying solely on the information and opinions of others is not always the best decision either. Armed with some in-depth and intensive research skills, we can find the top experts and latest information on just about anything.
Preparation & Prevention: Often even after a crisis has hit, there is still more that we can do to prevent further damage… and we must be strong enough both to recognize that and to do what we can. In this day and age, we have access to so much information and such incredible technology that it is possible to arm ourselves against a wide variety of potential problems.
Have you ever heard this saying, “If we fail to plan, we plan to fail.” It’s true. We can’t prevent everything out there but we can deal with what’s likely and what afflicts us by confronting the situations proactively. Carefully planning our course of action, at any stage really, can virtually immunize us to many surprises and situations.
Survival: It’s natural to want to give up or hide in bed for days when something goes very wrong but ignoring problems never makes them go away. And all too often we underestimate the power of the spirit. We can play the victim and wallow in our suffering, or we can switch into survivor mode and tackle our challenges head on. That’s the true spirit of the Young & Successful.
