Building personal resilience

- Over time, people who embrace change effectively rely on their resilience. That refers to a general toughness and an ability to recover quickly in the face of challenges. Good news, anyone who wants to, can build their resilience. It starts everyday with the choice to view whatever happens from a positive perspective. In the face of difficulties, you must make the choice to be better, not bitter. My advice is to make this choice part of your early morning routine every single time you wake up. Choosing to be positive has real mental benefits. It aids decision making and wards off unproductive negative perspectives. It might be impossible to be positive 100% of the time but when you make it a daily choice, your odds definitely improve. Your next strategy involves embracing multiple identities. To maximize your mental health and build resiliency you must be bigger than only your professional identity. Even if you love what you do, don't think of yourself so narrowly. Healthy people with strong mental resilience have two or more positive identities in addition to their professional identity. This might include parent, volunteer, or maybe basketball coach, who knows. Just know that when you have multiple identities, a threat to any one of them hurts you less overall. Another classic tip for building resilience is counting your blessings. There's no mystery here. Periodically stop and reflect on the many specific things you're lucky to have in your life. It can be as simple as reminding yourself that you have a decent place to live and friends and family you seriously value. When you remember to be grateful that pushes your thoughts towards a positive place and allows you to begin seeing the challenges in front of you in a more productive light. Okay, the last key tactic for building resiliency is to remember to take care of you. You're a complex machine that needs occasional maintenance in order to perform at your peak. How you take care of yourself does vary across people, but this much is clear; most successful people do not work 100% of the time. They take time to invest in their mental and physical strength. They might focus on health with diet and exercise and by taking breaks during the day. Or it might be remembering to reward themselves once in a while by seeing a movie, connecting with an old friend, or taking that well earned vacation. Here's your task, get out your calendar right now and write down one or more specific things you'll start doing today to help maintain and build your resilience.