(Originally Created by Brendan Alan Barrett of StartInPhx.com)

As we progress in our careers and in life we are often confronted with adversity that can try to push us off our intended course. These challenges vary in size and complexity, but even the smallest of deviations from our plan can add up over time.

Over the course of my career, I’ve noticed a few things to be true about the adversity I’ve encountered in working with my peers or colleagues from other organizations. These principles seem to hold true regardless of the challenge that has been presented to me or the team I am working with.

7 Things to Remember That Will Keep Your Work on Track

Everything is Negotiable – If you really want something you won’t settle for anything less. Sometimes that requires becoming an investigator and asking questions until you can unearth a solution in which everyone can compromise and still win.

Success Requires a Doer’s Personality – Decide right now that the little details are your responsibility. Even if you delegate something to a team member, it is your responsibility that they do the work and do it well.

Not Everyone is a Person-of-Action – When things get hard, assume that you haven’t been given the whole story. The people you’re working with, the people who tell you something can’t be done, probably haven’t exhausted their resource before reaching that conclusion. Be a person of action. Dig into the ins-and-outs of a circumstance until you understand why the success of your work is being presented with this obstacle.

Emotional Intelligence is Key to Getting Things Done – When trying to troubleshoot a project that has gone off the rails, information about the true nature of an obstruction is invaluable. On the other hand, people have a natural tendency to be less than transparent. By recognizing non-verbal signs that someone you’re working with might have more information, you can circle back in conversation until they feel safe enough to share the details they’ve been protecting.

Pro Tip: Simply being silent – not feeling rushed to respond to something someone else has said – can give the other party dead air that they feel nervously compelled to fill with details they may not have otherwise shared.  

Great Leaders Breed New Leaders – Use the hurdles your team encounters as teachable moments. If you never spend time developing your team, you’ll waist a lot more time solving the same problems over and over again, instead of moving on to bigger and better things.

Direct Communication Solves a Lot of Problems – Communication is crucial to good work, but it doesn’t take much for communication to break down. Failures in communication can usually be avoided simply by eliminating middlemen.

Gratitude Fuels Cooperation – The natural tendency for people to be less than transparent isn’t malicious, it’s an instinct in self-preservation.  By being appreciative of someone’s willingness to rise above that instinct to help you, it is much more likely that they’ll do so.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Brendan Alan Barrett, writes about professional development at www.StartInPhx.com, a blog dedicated to the mission of career success without student-debt. Brendan is also the author of READ WRITE DO Professional Development and Career Success Playbook, a book written for people who want to jump start the career they’ve wanted for way too long.