Your 'Superpower' for Process and Solutions
What improves for us when we learn and develop it
Some skills are critical to develop to the point of them becoming strengths.
Looking at a specific company’s website recently, its leadership highlighted different aspects of its team members and each person was asked to think about and briefly detail their strongest quality, which was defined as their superpower.
One of them stood out more than the rest.
“My superpower is my ability to stay calm and find creative solutions in tricky situations,” said Joyce Onyeka, a publicist at AK Infinite.
“This helps me handle challenges smoothly and keep projects on track.”
She spoke to why that capability is helpful, valuable and needed.
“Life gets messy in the blink of an eye: deadlines crash, people panic and plans break,” Onyeka says. “When you master the act of staying calm, even in the midst of chaos, you notice things others miss, make fewer emotional mistakes and reduce the problem instead of feeding it.”
This isn’t the norm because that’s a difficult skill to develop and make habitual.
“Most people are quick to react and very few respond with control,” Onyeka says. “That control is your superpower. It keeps situations from getting worse and moves things forward instead of walking around in circles.”
That being established, the “how” becomes the question and task as far as building the necessary mindset, approach, discipline, habit and thus, superpower.
“Real pressure teaches patience,” Onyeka asserts. “I know a lot of people will say it’s easier said than done but like I always say, you learn through failure.”
She expands on her point.
“Making the wrong call and seeing the cost, teaches and changes everything,” Onyeka says. “You find yourself asking better questions, staying focused on what you can control, gradually putting an end to chasing perfection and you start to chase progress.”
Some might counter with that’s just not who they are, yet she pushes back.
“I am of the opinion that ‘calm’ is a trained skill, not something you’re born with,” Onyeka contends.
Once this becomes a natural default response, improvement becomes evident.
“Stress drops because you stop fighting reality, clarity improves because fear isn’t in the way and your decisions get cleaner,” Onyeka has discovered.
“In the end, problems get handled early, you spend less time fixing the damage and more time building results.
“PS: calm doesn’t remove pressure, it gives you power inside the pressure.”
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Communication Intelligence began as online magazine (2021-2024) on another platform and during that time, also became a free-or-paid newsletter on Substack. The C.I. brand additionally offers individuals and organizations a variety of services, from written communications as well as communication consulting and coaching.
The newsletter is written by a former newspaper reporter, magazine writer, talk show host and communications consultant and advisor.
In the past, I kept thinking being calm meant somehow not feeling the stress, but that's not it. You still feel it, you just don't let it drive. Plus, when you stay calm, you confuse people hahahaha
Happy New Week, Michael.