Of all the skills that shape how we grow, adaptation might be the one we notice least. We praise resilience after things go wrong and innovation when things go right, but adaptability is what makes both possible.
After 30 episodes of Before We Get There Podcast, there’s one clear theme that runs through each guest’s story that helped them get to where they are today, adaptation. I believe that adaptability is the key skill in life that people aren’t thinking about improving enough. Studies show that the ability to adapt is directly correlated with overall life satisfaction and mental well being, but we don’t usually think about how skilled we are at it, and how we can get better.
For example, Opera Tang was working a 9-5 corporate job and just dabbling in the world of drag when she suddenly got retrenched. Instead of doing what many of us would, frantically scramble to send out applications and land another role as quickly as possible. She paused and reframed the situation into an opportunity instead of a setback. She decided to try to make a living by being a drag artist and quickly built out her influence, even getting collaborations with companies like Netflix and Carlsberg. When external factors force us to adapt, we too often rush into what we think the best path is instead of pausing, stepping back, and assessing if this opens opportunities we might not have ever taken on our own.
On episode 27, I dug into the strategy and thought process Anthony Yeoh goes through at his restaurant Summer Hill. He shared that his adaptations, to a new location, different type of customers, and the food he is serving, starts with his sales numbers – but goes beyond that into envisioning the dining experience he wants his guests to have. When he realized that customers who didn’t come in large parties often wouldn’t try his signature chicken dishes, he started thinking about how to facilitate the opportunity for guests to try a larger variety of food in one sitting. This led to him adapting a “dim sum style” brunch, where diners get small portions of many dishes instead of one plate or just a few things to share. That adaptation took creativity and courage, to not just make small optimizations, but to develop a whole new format of the dining experience.
After reflecting on my guest’s journeys and my own life, I realized how important our ability to adapt is. The American Psychological Association defines adaptability as “The capacity to make appropriate responses to changed or changing situations; the ability to modify or adjust one’s behavior in meeting different circumstances or different people.” In our daily lives we have to adapt all the time, from external factors like the people or situation around us changing, and internal factors like not being happy where we are in life or the feeling of wanting to do something. But most of the time, we just push through without stopping to notice how we’re adapting, or how we might get better at it.
What if we treated adaptability like EQ, leadership, or public speaking, a skill worth training deliberately? I believe the payoff is huge: less stress, more opportunity, and a better chance of building a life that actually fits.
Adaptation doesn’t make change easy, but it makes growth possible. It’s the skill that holds everything else together, and the one we need to practice most intentionally.
If you liked this, you might also enjoy:
- The Six Adaptation Skills We Need — a breakdown of six research-backed subskills behind adaptability.
- What My Layoff Taught Me About Adaptability — a personal story about rebuilding through uncertainty.