Resilience – What’s it all about? We hear a lot about resilience nowadays, but do we understand what it is, how to achieve it, and how being resilient feels? This is the first in a series of articles around resilience, why not subscribe to catch them all.
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So just what is resilience?
One thing is certain, life changes, things happen, and we don’t always immediately like the results. The problem is likely to be that we can’t alter the situation, but we can learn how to embrace change and, when appropriate, adapt to it. This process is part of becoming resilient.
The Harvard Business Review offered the following definition:
“Resilience is the ability to recover from setbacks, adapt well to change, and keep going well in the face of adversity”
Given that definition I guess most people would wish to be resilient, but how to go about it. There is a pattern of behaviour adopted by resilient people, so to become resilient we can learn from others.
Know where you want to go
The first, fundamental, habit of resilient people is they set themselves goals. Goals, large or small, chart the course you need to follow in order to achieve what you want. Putting in consistent effort towards your goal(s) gives you a sense of achievement. When setbacks happen, refocus, and either adjust your goal or set a new one.
Don’t forget to set goals that are realistic but will stretch you, mentally or physically. If a goal is too easily achieved it is unlikely to motivate you, and a goal that is too difficult may only frustrate.
Setting Goals
Once you have an idea what your goal(s) might be there are some important steps to follow:
Write them down – Writing your goals down helps you to focus on them.
Tell somebody – Verbalising your goals helps underpin your commitment to them. If you don’t feel ready to tell somebody else, say them out loud to yourself. Sharing is great because it helps introduce accountability.
Keep them manageable – If your goal is too big it will appear daunting. Break your goals into bite size chunks – a series of steps towards the big prize. After all if you wanted to run a marathon you wouldn’t make your first training session 26.2 miles long!
How Long?
It is very important to make your goals time bound. In other words, how long is it going to take to achieve your goal?
You can set yourself long term, short term, weekly, daily or micro goals. Some examples could be:
Long term – Become an airline pilot
Short term – Pass my GCSEs with high grades
Weekly – Complete and submit this weeks course work on time
Daily – Study for at least 4 hours
Micro – Finish my maths assignment
However you time your goals it is important to do so. A goal without a time constraint is little more than a vague wish!
Get on with it
The worst thing to do is to delay. Procrastination ,”the avoidance of doing a task that needs to be accomplished”, will frequently lead to stress. The almost inevitable outcome of stress in indecision and inaction (‘Rabbit in the headlights’). Whatever you want to achieve, set goals NOW and start working towards them. You will then have a route map, not only to your goals, but also to achieving resilience.
Thriving
One of the key features to thriving is resilience. You know what you want to achieve, have a route map (goals), and regularly review progress. When something happens that temporarily knocks you off course it is relatively easy to get back on track.
The Thrive Programme is based around your Psychological foundations. Without strong foundations it is impossible to be resilient. Learn more by visiting my website, and why not arrange a free consultation to find out how Thrive With Ian can teach you to be resilient.
Ian Crosswell
I’m Ian and I’m a qualified Thrive Programme Consultant. Using the professionally developed Thrive Programme – a proven, evidence based, positive psychology training programme – I work with people from all walks of life, providing the insights and skills they need to change their lives for the better.