6 important disadvantages that can make you successful

6 important disadvantages that can make you successful6 important disadvantages that can make you successfulI grew up in a rural area and attended a small college. Then I moved into the fast-paced business world when I graduated. I didnt have the life experiences of many of my colleagues, or the sophistication that comes with those experiences. There were several times I felt my disadvantages would make me less than successful.Little did I know that my disadvantages would nurture the scrappiness Id need for success down the road.Disadvantages in life, especially big ones, can make us feel like a victim of our circumstances or situation. Those forces are often out of our control but, it is always our choice to decide whether were a victim or a survivor. We can choose to be strong or weak.Big disadvantages are full of opportunities to develop the mental toughness it takes to overcome them. I learned that I could struggle through in my circumstances and survive or, I could bust through them and use that momentum to become successful.Check out this list to landsee why your disadvantages in life were important and how can make you successful1. Money is shortWhen you dont have money, youre forced to use your imagination. Innovation becomes a way of life at a very early age - I discovered that sticks are excellent imaginary rifles and swords, and dried cow pies can be awesome frisbees.Poverty can leave scars because it withholds the things you need and want. As a child, I could either feel sorry for myself and cry like a baby, or I could be creative. Since I was trained at an early age to be creative and resourceful, those traits helped me be successful as an adult. The requirement of entrepreneurship is a mindset that is resourceful, scrappy, and innovative.How To Make It Work For You Cultivate an attitude that says youre out to set new levels of success and not just go along with how things have always been done. Create multiple plans to reach your goal, dont settl e for only one because you never know whats around the corner. Be prepared with a Plan B. And C. You will learn how to turn challenges into advantages.2. Parents and family dont coddleThere were many times as a child when I felt very sorry for myself, but I didnt come from one of those warm and fuzzy families that coddled their offspring.My grandmother had ammo on her Christmas list There are three things you never say to a grandmother who is a crack shot with a shotgun You do it. Its your fault. I quit.But in the process, I learned how to fend for myself. If I found myself in a tough situation, I had to rely on myself to get out of it.How To Make It Work For You You cannot whine, blame others, or point fingers if you plan to be successful. That means Snowflakes will need to take responsibility for their actions. As an adult, they can no longer act like a baby and cry out for momma.3. Mistakes dont go awayThe better part of my early life was spent as a hillbilly. I didnt have the po lish of a sophisticated upbringing and so I made a lot of mistakes, both social and professional.I learned from each one because I knew one thing I didnt want to make the same mistake twice. It hurt too much the first time to not take the experience seriously and glean as much knowledge and wisdom as I could from it.As I look back and see the path Ive traveled, I understand now that the past was nothing but training. It doesnt define me.How To Make It Work For You Maybe youre perfect and have never made a mistake. That means youre a delicate Snowflake who refuses to take a hard look at yourself. People who become successful understand that mistakes are only stupid if you dont take the time to learn from them. Pinpoint your mistakes, own them, and learn from them.4. Loser friends stick aroundSince our cattle ranch was in a remote part of Wyoming, I grew up with few friends. I was on a constant search to find other kids like me, but there just werent that many. At first, I wasnt picky about with whom I chummed up but that turned out to be worse than having no friends at all. If I surrounded myself with loser friends, I was better off alone.Instead, I learned to make friends and spend time with people who were very different from me. They stretched the way I thought because they were so diverse.We tend to spend time with people who are just like us, but when we do, we lack the feedback we need to force us out of our comfort zones and challenge us to question our beliefs.How To Make It Work For You If youre smart enough to pursue success, youre smart enough to know how to dump your loser friends. Be friendly to everyone, but be smart in how to deepen relationships with people who will inspire and challenge you.Ask questions about where theyre headed in life.Observe whether their actions are consistent with their words.Decide if their values are a match with yours (you do know your values?)5. No easy way outI had to work really hard to get good grades - they didnt come easy. As a result, I knew I would need to develop other traits if I wanted to be successful. I had to excavate my other talents and abilities. In the process, I learned how to tolerate discomfort, frustration, anger, failure, and rejection.Mental toughness requires you to become acutely aware of all emotions so you can make the best choice about how to respond when negative ones pop up. It requires you to accept your emotions but not let them control you.How To Make It Work For You Snowflakes are insulted by microaggressions that they feel are not respectful toward them. Get used to it because in the real world, the one your parents dont own, youll need scrappiness to be successful. No handouts instead, develop the right attitude to make your own breaks in life.6. Breakthroughs are hard-wonSeveral wrong turns were taken during my early years. Many of the breaks I had hoped for fell through so I picked myself up and started down another road. I continued until I finally found t he right path for me.Believe it or not, our best breakthroughs come from stress. Stress is produced when we place a great deal of pressure on ourselves to see how much we can take and how well we respond. This is the secret - the breakthroughs produced by pressure trains us for this thing called life. In a tough situation, stress makes you stronger.We practice over and over again until we have a breakthrough and become someone we had no idea we could become. We all know too much stress can be a bad thing but research shows that we actually need stress to perform at our best.How To Make It Work For You Always have a petri dish of things for which you dont know the answer. The chance for failure should be as great, if not greater, than your probability of success. Youll know the feeling of failure, and your response to it, in a safe environment. When it happens on your way to success, it wont derail you because youve been there before. And survived.Ironically, the disadvantages weve faced in the past were the ones that helped us develop the mental toughness we need to be successful.This article first appeared on LaraeQuy.com.