It Is What It Is…


I once read an Inc. magazine article where the author, a leadership expert, lamented the phrase “it is what it is” as stupid, dangerous, and, ultimately, the abdication of responsibility. Might some use the phrase in that manner? Sure, we have the ability to bastardize and destroy most anything. However, I could not disagree more! I, too, have used those very words and in a leadership context. Why? For the simplest of reasons…

If you are unwilling to accept circumstances for what they are, you cannot address them.

More than the words, the underlying meaning is critical here. Any challenge, any difficulty you may face, will only be made worse if you are unwilling or unable to see it for what it is and accept it. Those difficulties do not care how you feel. Those difficulties do not care if you take action. Those difficulties do not care if you search far and wide for another to blame. Merely wishing something to be different, will not make it so. If, however, you can accept a situation for what it is, you actually have a chance at a clear-eyed, rational assessment. Then, and only then, can you begin to build plans, contingencies, exit strategies… whatever.

How often have you seen someone frustrated with circumstances that are totally outside of their control? I’ll assume daily… Obvious examples may be the actions (God forbid, thoughts and opinions) of others, the weather, the economy, the traffic, on and on. The list of things you do not control is long… as in, most things. When we allow such circumstances to drive emotions, to allow calculations of right/wrong, to tip the imaginary fairness scales in our head, we cannot, effectively, find our way out. But wait, there’s more… You do control your responses. You do control your actions. You do control how you choose to look at a situation. 

“It is what it is” is not an abdication. It is a call to accept, so you can assess, so you can act.

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