How To Be Resilient Through Tough Times
We are living in some perilous moments that stretch our abilities to be resilient, to think clearly, act responsibly, and manage our psychology. Exceptional leadership, living leadership, is often borne out of times like this.
Five Ways You Can Build Resilient Muscles
Uncertain times have us all in an unusual grip; for some, it may feel more like a chokehold. I want to share some secrets with you on how to stay mentally and emotionally present and robust – tough enough to meet the uncertainty head-on. To be resilient, we need to build, develop, and maintain a certain mindset.
Resilience is something that all of us are going to need to see us through to the other side of this global crisis.
We see people all around us performing remarkable feats in the face of intense personal and organizational stress. How is it that they can thrive under such pressure, while others succumb?
What tends to separate the two types of people comes down to their attitude.
The Attitude of Resilience
Resilient people meet adversity head-on and can bounce back from setbacks.
They seem to exude an inner strength naturally.
Study after study shows that personal resilience is something that any of us can build.
Remember Your Gutsy Past
Let’s think back to the tough times we have endured in our lives. Take a moment and remember. It may not have had the global ramifications we are presently facing but we can identify some consistent aspects of our mindset and our behaviors that allowed us to get through those tough periods.
They can be boiled down to five essential factors of personal resilience. Try to identify when you have demonstrated these behaviors in the past.
You have massive resources within you to persist and prevail through really difficult times. That inner realization will boost your resiliency by being more deliberate in our thoughts and our actions.
Five Core Factors
Numerous studies have shown that successful people share a set of FIVE CORE FACTORS that equip them with personal resilience.
Physical body armor protects the wearer from bodily injury. A suit of psychological body armor can protect you against psychological distress and emotional trauma.
And at times like this, these elements can enable us to grow stronger.
The five factors of personal resilience are:
#1: BEING ACTIVELY OPTIMISTIC
Optimism is more than a belief; it’s consent for a change. It’s the inclination to move forward when others are going backward. And it’s often irresistible to others around you.
#2: TAKING DECISIVE ACTION
Optimism is not enough. You must be decisive and act to rebound and overcome anything. And often, courage will be required to make difficult decisions sometimes. But making those difficult decisions is easier when you use core factor three.
#3: YOUR MORAL COMPASS
Use your values to guide your decisions in anything that you do but especially within these challenging global circumstances. Your demonstrated values represent your operating system. Brené Brown’s brilliant book, Dare to Lead, contains a fantastic section on understanding your values. And once your decisions have been implemented, utilize number four.
#4: RELENTLESS TENACITY
Be persistent. You can build tenacity like you would build a muscle. Choose a goal and practice it. The more you practice, the more you will succeed. And here’s the good news; it gets easier the more you succeed. You can observe tenacious role models in history. History is full of examples of tenacious defiance of failure.
#5: SUPPORT
Who has your back? Who do you have around you to support you in this journey? If you don’t know, it’s time to reach out and build that network. And, this may be a good time to ask yourself whose back you are ready to cover? Who can count on you?
You Got This!
So when you look optimism, action, values, persistence, and support, and then think back to those times when you have overcome seemingly enormous obstacles and challenges in your life, you will realize that you possess all of these already!
You have all of them already in your toolkit.
You are equipped to get through tough times. Even these tough times.
I hope this helps you right now.
