Imagine yourself at the starting line of a speed skating race. The buzzer sounds to announce the start of the race and you promptly fall on your face.

It’s over. Give up. Go home. Right?

This was the premise of a video I recently watched on LinkedIn, but as the race unfolded I was fascinated by how the skater in question leveraged an advantage hidden inside the apparent disadvantage and found a way to win the race.

The skaters who remained vertical sped away from the starting line and found themselves knotted up in a jumble, spending precious energy and focus jockeying for position. 

The skater who fell, while far behind, had nothing but open ice ahead of them and was able to operate at full speed, ultimately passing the group of skaters who once enjoyed an obvious advantage.

Choosing to persevere will help you survive the disadvantage. 

Looking for advantages within a perceived disadvantage will help you transcend it.

Is it possible that the disadvantages you perceive to be impacting your life and work have an advantage or two hiding inside them? 

Is it possible that the way you think about these disadvantages is amplifying (or diffusing) their power?

(Having a hard time identifying the advantages that may be hiding inside your present circumstance? Let’s jump on a quick call so I can help you take another look!)