So much of life is about finding the lemonade in the bag of lemons that you are handed.

Success starts with finding serendipity. Spotting the moments of peace and beauty that brighten the otherwise stressful landscape of busy days and chaotic attempts at business mastery.

Ironically, these moments of tranquility are all around us. Waiting to be noticed. Waiting to inspire greatness.

And if you’re looking for them, you’ll find them.

It is easy (and natural) to feel broken and depressed by the stress of daily conquest. Unless you take time to marvel at what is extraordinary, you’ll find yourself buried in the mundane and ordinary.

That’s what the smartest people in the world know.  How to find beauty and distraction amidst stress and complexity.

When the highly secretive United States National Security Agency looks at finding and hiring the world’s smartest mathematicians and scientists as code breakers, they don’t just look for genius in the areas of math and science and theoretic analysis.

They pursue brilliant people who are also inclined to appreciate art and those who have musical talents. What the NSA has learned from exploring and cultivating genius is that brilliance and ideation is directly tied to beauty and art and serendipity.

What’s the lesson? The better you are at appreciating the beauty around you, the better decisions you will make. The more options you will see. The smarter you will be.

Be smart = Stop and smell the roses.

It is true that “what doesn’t kill you can make you stronger”. But it can also leave you broken and unfit to conquer.

It is when you see the beauty in your situation that you are best prepared to experience breakthrough.

So perhaps the question isn’t: “What’s wrong with this situation?” Perhaps the better question is: “What’s beautiful with this bad situation?”

Let that beauty inspire you to be amazing.  To find a way to make it out of the painful situation you are in right now.

Be smart.