2 Skills You Demonstrate If You Are Resilient

Skill #2 — You Move Forward Quickly

Skill #1 — You Take Care of Yourself

We cannot expect to be resilient if we do not invest time in taking care of ourselves.

This involves both our physical and mental wellbeing.

During a crisis, we can let our focus on the situation or others rob us of our wellbeing.

This will lead to reduced energy, stress, and loss of joy in our lives.

When this happens, we begin to doubt our ability to find solutions to our most pressing needs and others’ needs.

We can easily get worn down and begin to perform even ordinary tasks at a subpar level.

Lesson to Learn

Healthy routines desired during regular times become requirements during challenging times.

We need to ensure we get quality sleep, eat healthily, exercise abundantly, and take time to play.

All of these items usually suffer when we are challenged for prolonged periods.

Our mental health also needs to be tended to.

We need to allow ourselves to feel all emotions, find ways to channel our hurt and anger, and ensure we spend time with those we care for.

When we do these things, we give ourselves what we need, so we are at our best to deal with our situation with grace and help others.

Answer for Me

My self-care routine is just as much for me as it is for others. It is not selfish to take care of my needs.

In fact, it is life-giving to me — and others.

It helps me nurture a positive image of myself. It builds confidence and energy.

It gives me the depth of compassion I need to be there when others need me.

I keep score of how I am doing in taking care of my needs just like I do the other essential indicators in my life.

I also need to be gentle on myself when I go astray, forgive myself when I fail, and remind myself of how grateful I am to have today and those around me.

Actions

Taking actions to stay physically and mentally healthy is an ongoing task during a crisis. When you fall away from these habits, take note.

Commit to start again — and schedule time for it.

Be forgiving toward yourself and others.

Encourage others to have healthy self-care routines.

You know it’s appropriate for others to spend time on themselves.

It’s not selfish to spend time on you. Self-care and self-love are critical to resiliency.

Daily Habits

Daily routines around our mental and physical health are critical.

Eat healthy each day.

Get some exercise each day.

Make time for those who care for you and need your support.

Laugh more. Pause frequently.

Use paper or an app to keep score on how you are doing. This is not to beat yourself up.

Instead, it reminds you just how vital care for yourself is as you serve others and carry out your mission.

Skill #2 — You Move Forward Quickly

Acting during a crisis is the most critical practice toward building resiliency.

Without action during challenging times, we could easily become overwhelmed.

You can spot resiliency in yourself or others when you see action during a crisis.

This final phase of resiliency is the best way of knowing that a person has done all the necessary work in building resilient attitudes and behaviors into their life.

Lesson to Learn

Preparing yourself to act when needed is critical to surviving and thriving during challenging times.

To be resilient, you must be able to act during a crisis.

All the preparation and self-care that a person does can be seen best in the actions they can now take.

A person needs to be able to accept that the change being experienced is now a part of life, select and move forward with appropriate goals, and take decisive action.

When a person can do all of these, they are demonstrating resilient behavior.

Answer for Me

Leaders need to be able to act.

Successful individuals need to be able to take the necessary steps the situation warrants.

Resilient individuals can do this in the middle of a challenge.

I have learned to judge my resilience by my readiness to act, willingness to act, and the outcomes achieved.

When I am doing it correctly, I can be very effective in a crisis.

When I am not, I have to go back, assess, and work on my resilience.

I want to be resilient so I can serve others and live my life with grace.

Challenges are inevitable. Resiliency is a learned and important skillset for me.

Action

During a crisis, evaluate your resiliency by determining if you can accept the situation, select appropriate goals, and move forward on them.

Even a limited ability to do this during the early part of a challenge is to be celebrated.

As a skill, repeated practice and learning is critical.

Move forward as you can in the moment.

Get better at it. Evaluate your success and limitations.

Commit to being proactive and learning the skills of resiliency.

Daily Habits

Use each day to build the skills that help you achieve outcomes during challenging times.

See the challenge as a part of your life, for at least this time.

Select goals that matter. Move forward on their execution.

This will give you courage daily. It will help you build skills daily.

You can also learn from these steps. All of this will make you stronger and more resilient.

It will help you and others on a daily basis.

To learn more about leadership visit me at www.macny.org.

To get a copy of my book Present-Future Leader, go to www.amazon.com.