Can you imagine a fighter jet which fuels itself? It may be invented one of these days because in times of today ‘Anything is possible’! We as humans need to replenish our energies too. Refuel with rest and rebooting. Food and drink are basic necessities and the brain consumes the greatest number of calories but is there a way that we can keep at it. Its beyond the quality of tenacity. The answer is no but you can maximise your effort and output through resilience.
The Merrium Webster Dictionary defines resilience as “an ability to recover from or adjust easily to adversity or change”. Developing a ‘Resilient Mindset’ means re-wiring of your mind to incorporate resilience as a spontaneous first response. Resilience is a much-needed quality in today’s world of rapid and unpredictable changes. It builds the capability in you to recover faster from failures but also quickly adapt, change gears and move forward with conviction, relevance and confidence. Developing resilience is no easy task. You need to redevelop and polish many natural responses that you have. Stop doing things you normally do and start doing things in a new seamless manner. But here are 4 fundamental steps to evolve into a ‘Resilient Mindset’.
Learn to bounce
The one lesson we can learn from a ball is how to bounce and keep bouncing. If you want to survive the vagaries of the modern world, you need to develop the ability to keep bouncing. And there is that very important quality of bouncing which is called ‘bouncing back’!
There will be obstacles and you cannot control everything that happens in your life. However you can control how you react to negative situations, crisis and failures. Facing these situations head-on needs courage as human tendency is to escape or avoid such situations. Remember, each failure teaches you and prepares you to become better. Quickly exit from what has happened as you cannot turn the clock back. Recover and bounce back.
Courage over comfort
We all love to remain in our comfort zone. We are also creatures of habit and resist change. But, to evolve to a ‘Resilient Mindset’, you need to literally choose courage over comfort. Have the courage to be different, face the danger zones of life in the face and overcome them with logic and determination.
Actually the essence of resilience comes from the ability to look ahead and pre-empt. Just like the clouds loom before a heavy shower with tell-tale signs and you get your umbrella out, be receptive to the signals that an incoming negative situation can send out. The good news is that most negative incoming situations can be pre-emptive. The bad news is that there are also unforeseen negative situations, but with courage you can face and overcome these.
A healthy body houses a resilient mind
Resilience burns calories!
However, it burns much more if you are not healthy and fit. Mental athletics is not different to physical athletics. If you need to continuously be on your toes to combat life challenges and adverse situations, you will need to be at the peak of your health. Eat right, exercise and stay away as far as is possible from the day to day stress and burnout of life. Counter balance this with a positive attitude, optimism and energy. Develop and maintain a work life balance. Learn to be practical. Prioritise. Stop being control obsessed. Do make rest and make recuperation a top priority. Once you strengthen your resilience you actually strengthen your well being too and in turn your longitivity.
Be resilient for life
Once you develop resilience as your second nature, become resilient for life. A ‘Resilient Mindset’ does not remain automatic. You will need positive self-talk and a ‘Resilience buddy’ who can help you keep your mindset at optimum levels by continuously sharing feedback and by giving you an occasional, pat on the back.
“Do not judge me by my success, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again.” Nelson Mandela
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