The Most Important Characteristic of Success: Adaptability
When I first thought about the question posed in a program I watched today about the most important characteristic of success – a lot of things came to mind – vision, passion, patience – but once the speaker explained that it is in fact adaptability, I understood its importance.
The case made by the speaker for adaptability being the most important characteristic of success was that change is the only constant we have in life. Nothing is guaranteed. We can plan, and execute, and persist; but ultimately, things may not happen the way we expected or wanted.
Thus, the case for adaptability. In order to be successful and overcome the odds, challenges, surprises that you encounter, adaptability can be the single most important characteristic of success.
The speaker gave the example of Farouq Al-Baz – who believe it or not – was actually one of the forerunners of helping man land on the moon. He was an Egyptian Muslim who grew up in the country-side in Egypt and dreamed of being an amazing surgeon. Upon not receiving admission into medicine, he exercised his adaptability and decided to pursue geology and still be amazing at it. He then went on to pursue his Ph D in the United States and upon returning to Egypt and not finding an opportunity for him to truly make the difference he wanted in the world, he exercised his adaptability once again and decided to return to the United States.
At that time, he joined NASA and became very interested in the idea of helping man land on the moon. He studies the moon in detail, spending hours, days, and possibly months reviewing over 2000 photos of the moon until he approached NASA with the 16 best places for man to land on the moon. He was then asked to train the astronauts that would be the first to land on the moon.
Besides of course the characteristics of vision, passion, and patience, one could argue that it was this man’s adaptability and refusal to give in to his circumstances that enabled his humble beginnings as the son of a simple family living in the country side of Egypt to help the first man land on the moon.
When we ask ourselves what can be the top barriers to our success, once again there can be many barriers but one of the most important barriers could be a lack of open mindedness and a lack of flexibility. A lack of open mindedness does not allow us to listen to other opinions and learn from others. A lack of flexibility means that we believe there is one and only one way to accomplish our goals and if this way does not work, then it is over.
Adaptability on the other hand allows to listen to many perspectives and enables us to exercise other options when our original plan does not follow through, so that we can ultimately reach our goals in sha Allah.
And adaptability can serve us in all aspects of our life – whether it’s in our faith to listen to other schools of thought and scholarly opinions on a particular issue, as long as they are based on the Quran and Sunnah, in our relationships by being flexible and patient, in our health by changing unhealthy lifestyle habits, in our career/business by exercising more wisdom when dealing with our managers, co-workers, staff, and of course in our personal development and contribution because as mentioned it can be the single most important characteristic of success.
One final point to mention is the difference between adaptability and simply giving in to other options or circumstances when we feel that our ideal situation did not come to fruition. Adaptability is about being flexible while maintain your core values and beliefs.
To view the program, which is in the Arabic language, please visit:
And click on: عمار الأرض الحلقة الثالثة
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