Life is chaotic, and beyond death nothing is ever guaranteed to you.

While your goal should never change to fit your current life situation, the path you take to achieve it may have to for reasons far beyond your control.

Be unwavering in your goals, but never be too rigid in the steps you take to achieve them.

The ability to adapt to life as it happens is just as influential on the probability of success as your skill set and how much hustle you have in your veins.

In fact, I would say adaptability is a much more important factor to your success than anything else.

“It is not the most intellectual of the species that survives; it is not the strongest that survives; but the species that survives is the one that is able to adapt to and to adjust best to the changing environment in which it finds itself” – Charles Darwin

Sure, you can be a genius and know a thousand things more than the person next to you, but that doesn’t give you the automatic advantage over them.

In most cases, hard work beats talent. Those who are working hard and adapting to the fast paced life they’re creating for themselves are the ones who tend to succeed at a much higher rate than the smart ass who thinks he knows everything, but does nothing.

Your goal may be to become more physically fit over the next 3-6 months. Now, outside of big life events like holidays and birthdays, there’s a lot of room for things to change over the next six months.

Your plan to hit the gym 4 times a week may work for a while, but what if your car breaks down?

Do you stop working out or do you have a plan in place to adjust how you work out in order to continue toward your goal of physical superiority?

If you’re serious about your success, you will have contingency plans in place ahead of time.

Maybe you put together a list of calisthenic workouts you can do in your house.

Another option would be to turn the unforeseen circumstance of lack of transportation on its head and make the adversity work in your favor.

Add cardio as part of your workout and literally hit the ground running to get your ass to the gym, regardless of the fact you don’t currently a car.

The same holds true for any other type of goal you set for yourself, from building a business that allows you to escape the rat race, to personal goals like reading daily or spending more time with friends, and so on.

Things rarely go as planned, but the good news is that you know this ahead of time so it doesn’t surprise you when chaos happens.

And when something can’t surprise you, it holds a lot less power over you and the progress you make in your life.

Instead of freaking out when what you want doesn’t happen in the order you want it to, learn to adjust your plans to fit your current situation and keep moving forward.

That’s the beauty of life; the chaotic uncharted territory you end up in can be one of the most beautifully fulfilling places you’ve ever seen.

The choice is always up to you on how you approach things and the decisions you make when it comes to your life will ultimately dictate where you end up.

Don’t let temporary defeats or changes in your life plans alter your destination, even if that means you have to travel by foot instead of a plane.

Because if your goals are worth enough, you’ll learn how to organize the chaos of your life and use adversity to push yourself to limits you never thought possible.