Developing Resilience and a Positive Focus
It’s inevitable that we will fall short in achieving our objectives from time to time or be faced with circumstances that are beyond our control. How we view adversity and stress strongly affects how we succeed. There are countless numbers of people around the world that have fallen short and then have gone on to become extremely successful.
The incandescent light bulb was the result of unwavering persistence and determination. Thomas Edison said “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work”, which is a pretty amazing outlook. His story is one of amazing strength and fortitude to overcome adversity. Edison never let his ‘failures’ get the better of him and as a result gave the world some of the most amazing inventions of the early 20th century.
Whether you are looking for a new job or perhaps thinking about starting up your own business, we can draw inspiration from Edison and take a look at how developing resilience will help you to keep moving forward towards your dreams and goals. So what is resilience and why is it so important?
Resilience is our ability to adapt and bounce back when things don’t go as planned. Resilient people will acknowledge the situation, learn from their mistakes, and then move forward. They view a difficulty as a challenge to be overcome, not an obstacle that stops the achievement of an objective. Richard Branson is another great example of someone who dared to try something different and along the way has lost more money than most people will earn in their whole life time. This contemporary business leader has never allowed his failures to stop him from trying again and today he is one of the most successful business people of our time.
Whatever their motivation may be, a resilient person is committed to their goals. Commitment isn’t just restricted to their work – they commit to their relationships, their friendships, the causes they care about, and their religious or spiritual beliefs. According to psychologist Susan Kobasa, there are three essential elements to developing resilience:
- Challenge – Looking at stress as a challenge to be overcome, rather than seeing it as paralysing and overwhelming. Embrace the setback with a positive attitude, address the issue and then do something about it.
- Commitment – Adopting an active, engaged approach towards life, buoyed up by a sense of purpose. Having purpose motivates a resilient person to actively attempt to influence their surroundings and to persevere even when those attempts don’t appear to be working out.
- Personal Control –Resilient people spend their time and energy focusing on situations and events that they have control over. Because they put their efforts where they can have the most impact, they feel empowered and confident. Those who spend time worrying about uncontrollable events can often feel overwhelmed, helpless, and powerless to take action.
Having resilience in everything we do is important, but if you’re not naturally a resilient person, here are some ways to help develop your mindset:
- A healthy mind and body will help you cope with challenges in life, so exercise regularly and ensure you get enough sleep.
- Set achievable goals and maintain the momentum to achieve those goals.
- Change your mindset to view set backs as opportunities to learn.
- Practice in positive thinking and picture a positive image of the future – don’t let negative thoughts derail your efforts.
- Maintain perspective and try to keep things in context.
- Practice responding to situations in a calm and positive manner – we all have ‘bad’ days.
- Don’t think of yourself as the victim – focus on changing things you have control over.
- Believe in yourself and your abilities – when you develop confidence and a strong sense of self, you have the strength to keep moving forward, and to take risks.
- Build strong relationships with colleagues and friends, so that you have a support network to fall back on.
During hard times it is important to focus on thinking positively and not give up. Life is full of ups and downs and when you feel like you are in a dark tunnel and you can’t see the light, keep putting one foot in front of the other as the light could be just around the corner. Have the courage to take risks and pursue your dreams.