Adaptability Is Your Superpower: Learn, Adjust & Get Back in the Game

Something didn't go the way you expected. Now what? You can decide: I screwed it up. This always happens to me. I'm terrible at this. Maybe this isn't meant for me. Or... You can take what happened, learn from it, adjust, and get back in the freaking game. This episode started after a conversation with my 19-year-old son, who recently entered the transfer portal and had a conversation with a golf coach that didn't go exactly as he expected. And there were a few things I wanted him to understand: What expectations did you have going into the situation? Did you communicate those expectations? Are you taking someone's response personally because they didn't meet expectations they didn't even know you had? And most importantly: How quickly can you rebound? adapting_transcript_20261007_09… Because disappointment isn't the problem. Failure isn't the problem. Getting something wrong isn't even the problem. The question is: What are you going to DO with what you just learned? Episode Breakdown (18 minutes) 00:00 – 01:16 — A frantic text from my son and the conversation that started this episode 01:16 – 02:08 — Why I'm a pretty damn good rebounder 02:08 – 03:28 — How one problem turns into "everything is going wrong" 03:28 – 05:29 — Why our brains love "always" and "never" 05:29 – 06:52 — Mistakes are human—but what did you learn? 06:52 – 08:19 — When you've never done something before, find someone who has 08:19 – 09:27 — My 90-day experiment and learning how to collapse time 09:27 – 10:38 — Growth, accumulated wisdom, and self-efficacy 10:38 – 12:02 — Shattering my kneecap and deciding I would run again 12:02 – 13:15 — Learning that I had to jump before I could run 13:15 – 14:03 — Fear, my nervous system, and completely screwing up the first jump 😂 14:03 – 15:18 — Why failure can teach you more than winning 15:18 – 16:00 — The vision was running—but jumping had to come first 16:00 – 16:49 — More conversations, more attempts, more learning 16:49 – 18:01 — Don't quit because you're disappointed Key Takeaways Unspoken expectations can create unnecessary disappointment. One bad moment does not mean something always happens to you. Your brain looks for evidence supporting whatever you're currently focused on. adapting_transcript_20261007_09… Mistakes are inevitable. What matters is how quickly you learn, adapt, and get back into the game. Reflection turns experience into wisdom. When you're doing something you've never done before, learn from people who have. You can borrow someone else's wisdom instead of learning every lesson the hard way. Self-efficacy comes partly from recognizing that even when you've never done this before, you've probably handled something similar. Failure isn't evidence that you can't do it. Sometimes it's literally how you learn to do it. The big vision often requires smaller skills and steps you didn't realize you'd need. Don't confuse disappointment with a directive to quit. One of the strongest questions from the episode is: "How quickly can you get back into the game?" adapting_transcript_20261007_09… Because resilience isn't never getting knocked down. It's becoming someone who knows what to do after it happens. Your Brain's "Always" Problem You forget to pay one bill. "I ALWAYS screw up my money." You eat one cookie. "I NEVER stick to anything." You miss one workout. "I ALWAYS fall off track." You have one uncomfortable sales conversation. "I'm terrible at sales." No. You had an experience. Your brain simply loves taking one moment and turning it into an identity. And once you've decided something "always" happens, your brain starts serving up every piece of evidence it can find to prove you're right. adapting_transcript_20261007_09… Instead: What happened? What did I learn? What will I do differently next time? Then go again. Borrow the Wisdom You don't need to magically know how to do something you've never done. Talk to somebody who has. Ask questions. Learn what worked. Learn what didn't. Take their experience and use it to shorten your own learning curve. That's what I told my son. That's what I'm doing in the 90-day experiment I'm currently doing with my kids. And that's a huge part of what happens in coaching. Sometimes a conversation gives you the perspective you couldn't access because you were standing too close to the problem. adapting_transcript_20261007_09… Ready to Go Deeper? If you're stuck because something didn't work... You're disappointed... Or you've decided one experience means something about your ability to create the bigger vision... Let's shift the perspective. This is a huge part of the work I do with my private clients. We look at what's happening, what it's actually telling you, what you can learn from it, and how you can use that information to bridge the gap between where you are and where you want to be. Private coaching spots are currently available. adapting_transcript_20261007_09… 👉 Learn more about working with me Connect With Me 📸 Instagram @stephaniesnyderphd 🌐 StephanieSnyderPhD.com 🎥 YouTube @stephaniesnyderphd SEO Keywords adaptability, resilience, how to bounce back, overcoming failure, learning from mistakes, self efficacy, perspective shift, emotional resilience, stop overthinking, growth mindset, overcoming disappointment, personal development, high performance mindset, fear of failure, personal growth, how to not give up