A quality that marks out many successful people is their resilience. They seem to have an outstanding ability to bounce back.
Psychological resilience is about how well you deal with stress, resolve problems and handle misfortune. No one goes through life without set-backs. Issues that test your ability to bounce back can emerge at work or outside. Health problems and financial pressures may require great resilience to handle. With resilience you can usually bounce back from misfortune.
Some people seem born with this natural ability to bounce back. But, if you are not so lucky, resilience is a skill that can be learned by virtually anyone. It is strengthened by an optimistic outlook and a positive approach to life. Resilience is about coming out of a deeply stressful situation strengthened and having learned from the experience.
Resilience is best understood as a process. This includes;
- Knowing how to analyse what is going on around you
- Making plans to handle the situation
- Having confidence in your ability to carry out your plans
- Knowing how to communicate and get support when you need it
- Handling your strong feelings and emotions.
People who look for the best in any situation, are prepared to be flexible in their approach and focused on solving problems, seem most resilient. A sense of humour in the face of adversity always helps; humour seems to improve the immune system. People with perseverance and passion for their long-term goals often manage to overcome huge obstacles on the way.
The American Psychological Association suggests “10 Ways to Build Resilience.” These are:
- Maintaining good relationships with family and friends
- Avoiding seeing crises or stressful events as unbearable problems
- Learning to accept what cannot be changed
- Developing realistic goals and moving towards them
- Taking decisive actions in adverse situations
- Looking for opportunities for self-discovery after a struggle with loss
- Developing self-confidence
- Keeping a long-term perspective and considering the stressful event in a broader context
- Maintaining a hopeful outlook, expecting good things and visualizing what is wished for
- Taking care of your mind and body, exercising regularly; paying attention to your own needs and feelings
Unfortunately, there can be many circumstances in life which militate against the development of all these characteristics in early life. Luckily you can take steps to develop your resilience at any time. It is never too early or too late to start learning to bounce.
Wendy Smith is a personal coach and writer at Wisewolf Coaching. She is a qualified coach and a member of the Association for Coaching as well as being a member of the Institute of Consulting and a graduate of the Common Purpose leadership programme. She is the author of “The WiseWolf Job Search Pocket Book: How to Win Jobs and Influence Recruiters” as well as two novels and a number of articles on management and well-being. Her new latest publication is a little eBook; “How to Get on With the Boss,” You can contact Wendy at wendy@wisewolfcoaching.com
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