Identify those things that are of low importance and expendable.  The lizard willingly sacrifices his tail to the predator in order to preserve his life.  He can always grow a new tail.  If you only sacrifice the unimportant and expendable, the setback may be only a minor detour on the road to your dreams.

It’s inevitable you will encounter adversity on the path to your dreams, and so you should prepare for adversity in advance by identifying assets that are less important and expendable.  Although it would be nice to have everything go your way, and to never make compromises, it’s wise to decide ahead of time those things you can do without.

When setbacks occur and chaos temporarily reigns supreme, at least you know what you’re going to do.  You have already mentally drawn your line in the sand, and surrendering the unimportant and expendable won’t cause a problem.

For many years, I was the chairman of the morbidity and mortality committee at our hospital, and I quickly learned the difference between the essential and the expendable.

Every medical complication that occurred in the hospital had to be reviewed by our committee.  This involved a search for the truth within the limits imposed by the politics of medicine.  Although we fearlessly and critically examined every complication that landed on our desk, we also realized we couldn’t do everything we wanted because of the politics involved.  So we identified the critical issues that could not be ignored, and issues of less importance were shuffled off to the side.

It’s not that we lacked courage or resolve; rather, we knew we better stick to the big issues if we wanted to be effective as a committee.  Otherwise, we would have rapidly become bogged down in the unimportant and expendable.  By focusing on the essential, we were able to maintain a high standard of care and accountability in our hospital which was our primary objective.

That’s the nature of compromise.  You identify the essential and draw your line in the sand; everything else is up for grabs, and if the unimportant and expendable have to go, you still will be able to achieve your objectives. 

Excerpt from :

Zero Tolerance To Negative Thinking : Good-by Depression - Hello Positive Mind

David J Abbott M.D.