The Road to Resilience: The Skill to Thrive in Challenging Times
“Persistence and resilience only come from having been given the chance to work through difficult problems.”
Good news! Resilience is a skill that we can learn, develop and eventually master, providing the opportunity not just to rebound and survive, but also to benefit from our experience.
How can we use challenging times to grow, learn and flourish?
Having a sports background – competing and coaching at an international level – I know top athletes have three common traits: more perseverance than ‘normal’ athletes; dedication resulting in mastery of the new techniques; and not accepting failure.
Basketball legend Kobe Bryant, for example, was known to be fiercely competitive. He was one of the best athletes in the world, physically and mentally, thanks to his ‘Black Mamba Mentality’. For him, competition was fun, and an ongoing process of learning and trying again. He would say to himself, “Maybe I’m not good enough today but next time, I will be.”
We find exactly the same elements in successful corporate people. Not just CEOs and managers, but the employees who thrive and are more resilient than their peers.
As a result, we designed the ‘Road to Resilience’. And yes, it is a road. It takes time and patience to build resilience, in the same way you would develop the career of an athlete.
We have split this journey into three phases – or mountains – each of which are equally important.
The Three Mountains of Resilience
Reinforcement
What can I control and train before the pressure gets high?
Before the stress builds up, we have to gain the strength to cope better with, and under, pressure.
Manage your energy, not just your time.
Managing our energy, not just our time, is crucial, from sleeping well, eating healthily, and drinking enough water to moving more and sitting less. Be mindful of your energy drainers and boosters, and keep your batteries charged; you will need them when things get tough. Don’t expect it to happen by accident: Morning walks, evening runs, rollerblading with friends, or 30 minutes with the kids. Build it in to your schedule!
Make sure you check in with yourself and gauge your own energy levels. We do this all the time when we work with our clients.
Cultivate a growth mindset
Becoming more resilient also requires you to make small but continuous improvements, thereby shifting you to a growth mindset. Let’s use sport as our inspiration again: this time in the form of tennis superstar Roger Federer. Not always cool and collected, at 17, he was a brat on the court and broke racket after racket. The talent was there, but not the mindset.
When Roger changed his focus from results to progress, by focusing on improvement and growth, he achieved something every match. He soon realized that change is inevitable, but that growth is a choice and he made the choice to grow.
Visualise your goal & take a first small step
This is a technique used regularly by world-class athletes but less so in the business world. If you can’t visualise yourself reaching that goal – being better than your competitors, losing weight or being more patient – it’s going to be very hard to reach it.
If the goal is too big, break it down into smaller weekly or monthly steps. And measure progress regularly: look back to where you came from, but also forward to where you want to go.
Resistance
How can I resist better and be more efficient under pressure?
Stay true to your why
Now things get really hard. Unexpected changes hit us, stress levels rise and we quickly lose our way and our why. As Simon Sinek always says: “Start with a why. You only have one ‘why’, one purpose, one quest, regardless of the role you are in. Find out what yours is.”
Focus on what you can control
Change, however, brings us learning opportunities to keep growing and evolving. In times of unexpected and sudden change, focus on what you can control.
Avoid seeing crises as insurmountable problems by reassessing, reframing, and adapting your responses to stressful events. By looking forward to the future rather than focusing on the problem, we can treat problems as a learning process. Develop the habit of using challenges as opportunities to acquire or master skills and build achievement.
Make constructive thinking your second nature
By changing the negative feeling to something positive and constructive, we can change the outcome. Transform a problem into a fact, rationalise it, and interrogate your own thoughts. Ask yourself: How likely is…? What’s the worst that could happen? What would other people advise me to do?
Recovery
How can I disconnect and recover faster after pressure?
Build in time to disconnect
The last phase of the resilience process is recovery. Do it well and install good rituals. Build relaxing moments into your day to recharge your batteries. The boundaries between professional and private time are becoming blurred but it’s not laziness creating more time for yourself, it’s mastery.
Recognise your teammates
Also bear in mind that nothing charges our batteries as much as human interaction and recognition. When we’re physically distant, we need to be more connected emotionally.
Celebrate your wins!
And last but not least… like all great sports teams do, celebrate your successes – even the small wins. Take time at the end of each day to review what went well and congratulate yourself. Call this your ‘storm journey’ and evaluate how you coped. This trains the mind to look for success rather than dwelling on negativity and failure.
“Every Day is Day One.”
Every day is a new day in the storm of the unexpected. Keep learning, giving it your all every day, charging your batteries and staying strong mentally, and you will become more resilient.