“The world ain’t all about sunshine and rainbows..
Life is about how much you can take and keep moving forward” (Rocky Balboa)
What gives us resilience?
- A sense of Control
- A sense of Purpose
- Enjoying the Challenge
- Having Confidence.
A Sense of Control
The challenge arising in these COVID19 times is that sometimes we feel that we are controlled by others. It’s important to look to where we do have control, and ensure maximum effectiveness and impact in those areas. The American Olympic Rowing team were famous for their mantra “It’s not in our boat.” Their focus was entirely on what happened inside the boat: they couldn’t influence the wind, the weather or the competition. This mentality serves business owners well at any time.
A Sense of Purpose
A strong, clear and unwavering goal, which is attractive, achievable and motivational, is essential to make deliberate progress. Note the careful choice of words: attractive, deliberate. Attractive goals draw us towards them like a magnet, and the attraction gets stronger the closer we get, so be sure to measure your progress, be sure to know how close you are to your goals. Similarly be deliberate in your actions, and take care with planning and execution in order to not waste energy or time, our most precious resources.
Enjoying the Challenge
If it’s not fun it’s not worth doing. Our challenges can become either our tombstones or our stepping stones. The choice is in our power. As human beings we have the unique ability to choose our response to any situation. It is very easy to fall into a powerless mindset and blame others, to find excuses for our own failure to perform. Those who really enjoy challenge rise at these times, and draw energy from adversity, sometimes only enough energy to seek and recognise the next small achievable step. A step forward halts any fall, and starts momentum in the desired direction.
Having Confidence
Drawing on our experience of ourselves, our past performance enables us to quieten doubts and concerns. If we know where our strengths lie, where we have excelled before, we have the resilience to excel again. Confidence arises from our knowledge of our successes, when we have learnt from our own history, have gained wisdom with every step. Have confidence that you will succeed one more time by applying the knowledge and experience you won by hard graft, a resource you built for just this moment.
Action
Considering these 4 points, and maybe even scoring ourselves, gives us an insight into how we can best perform in times of unprecedented and/or prolonged pressure. Only a small shift in one of these areas is capable of making a substantial change in our approach. Which area will you choose to develop next?
