Being resilient often has different meanings to different people, usually based on their circumstances and
how they feel about them. Stated broadly, it is the capacity to adapt to trying situations and emotional turmoil, learn and grow while going through these challenges, while also feeling confident of the ability to do so. While executives and leaders rarely lack confidence, repetitive situations and the daily grind can lead to feeling stuck – in their careers and in their desire to deal with recurring challenges.
This is especially true if, in a leadership role, you find yourself constantly dealing with repetitious situations at work or with ongoing conflicts, distractions, and other problems with your team(s).
In you find yourself in such a situation, resilience training and executive coaching may be exactly what the doctor ordered – to help you cope with stress and overwhelm, maintain balance between life and work, and refocus on being a solid leader.
Are You Doing Work You Love?
Feeling stuck is often the result of realizing that your skills and talents are not being used to maximum capacity. Recognizing this can cause even the most resilient among us to question themselves, their ability to cope with the challenges of their work and life, and to decide they no longer love what they do.
While some people are inherently resilient, with adaptive skills the rest of us may only wish for, it is possible to learn and develop resilience skills. Learned resilience can happen in two ways: being forced to react to immediate stress and/or trauma, and by a conscious focus on learning to adapt to challenges, using experiences from your past.
According to an article at CounsellingDirectory.org, a counselling service based in the UK, here are a list of five things you can do to train yourself to become more resilient:
- Make some lifestyle changes – Practice being more straight-forward and assertive with others. If you feel people are making unreasonable demands upon you, be prepared to tell them how you feel and say no. Use relaxation tips and take time to do the things which calm you, whether it is taking a bath, going for a walk or listening to music.
- Allow yourself to enjoy other activities – Develop interests and hobbies, and schedule time for them. Make time to spend with family and friends and make use of your support network around you. Assess the sense of balance in your life: if one area is taking up too much of your time, then make some space for other things.
- Look after your physical health – Get a good night’s sleep and develop better sleeping patterns. Try and be more physically active, and exercise regularly (a huge stress reliever). Make sure to eat a more balanced and healthy diet.
- Judge yourself less harshly – Find time to praise yourself for your achievements and reward yourself for what you have accomplished. Resolve old or existing conflicts, which can be difficult but, settling arguments or finding a new way to move forward with a friend or loved one will assist you in finding a sense of peace.
- Forgive yourself – If you did not achieve what you wanted, or you feel you have made a mistake, ease up on punishing yourself and try to remember that no one is perfect.
In addition to these steps…
Mindfulness Training Increases Resilience
… Mindfulness training increases your resilience as you become capable of facing the tough situations and coping with difficult emotions (both your own and those of others) from the place of confidence, calm, and presence. This can seem counter-intuitive at first, since our habitual conditioned response to unpleasantness and discomfort is either avoiding it, waiting it out, or fighting it.
None of these survival-based mechanisms, on their own, will increase your resilience. On the contrary, they lead to further “stuckness” and, in the long run, to crisis.
As you re-train your brain by applying mindfulness techniques in challenging times, you expand your capacity not only to bounce back from stress, but to actually grow and evolve. Which is, by the end of the day, the definition of the type of resilience that is required from leaders in today’s world.
Of course, you may find that doing all of these things tends to be easier said than done. If you find yourself struggling with them, and you continue feeling stuck in work and/or life, it is time to seek professional resilience training or coaching.
Would you like to learn more about resilience training, executive presence training, and executive leadership coaching? Let’s chat. Click here to schedule your FREE Discovery Call.
