Building Resilience Amid Constant Change: Practical Strategies for Thriving in Uncertain Times

Stress and anxiety are rising, driven by political events, global disruptions, and workplace changes. This article introduces “stress inoculation,” a science-backed approach to building resilience by preparing for challenges instead of avoiding them. By understanding how our brains handle anxiety, both individuals and leaders can learn practical ways to better manage uncertainty and thrive in times of change.

The Weight of Uncertainty

In just two weeks, the United States will hold its presidential election, and for many, the anxiety is palpable. It feels like the entire nation is holding its breath, waiting for something to crack under the weight of uncertainty. Yet, this moment is just one tremor in a global landscape marked by political, economic, and environmental upheavals. Over the past few years, we’ve been hit with wave after wave of challenges—pandemics, financial instability, technological disruptions, and the looming specter of climate change. It’s no surprise that the collective stress level is at an all-time high.

Organizations aren’t immune either. Leaders are grappling with their own set of crises as the dynamics of work evolve rapidly. Technological advancements, generational expectations, and the rethinking of what it means to work are creating monumental shifts in how we operate. The pressure is mounting, and many leaders are feeling stretched to their limits, as are their teams.

How to Face Overwhelming Anxiety

In times like these, stress and anxiety feel almost unavoidable. So how do we manage it? How do we, as individuals and leaders, keep from being overwhelmed when everything seems to be falling apart?

The answer lies not in the typical “think positive” advice, but in something more grounded in science: stress inoculation. This concept flips the common wisdom of avoiding stress on its head. Rather than pretending everything is fine, stress inoculation encourages us to confront stress head-on in small, manageable doses, strengthening our ability to deal with bigger challenges in the future.

How Our Brains Respond to Stress

Our brains were designed to seek predictable patterns because it helps conserve energy. In familiar situations, the brain operates efficiently with minimal effort. However, when faced with uncertainty or change, the brain has to work harder, consuming more energy and triggering stress. This resistance to new challenges—whether a political event like the upcoming election or a workplace reorganization—is a natural response. While avoiding discomfort may offer temporary relief, it does nothing to build the resilience needed to handle future challenges.

The good news is that we can train our brains to handle stress better. Just as a vaccine prepares the immune system to fight off viruses, small doses of stress can train the brain to cope with larger pressures. This isn’t about wishful thinking or avoiding hard truths. Instead, it’s about preparing for the inevitable stressors that life—and work—throw our way. By facing smaller challenges deliberately, we can build the mental strength to navigate bigger disruptions with more control and less anxiety.

Resilience: The Key to Leading Through Uncertainty

Resilience is an essential leadership skill, especially in times of uncertainty. Leaders who can help their teams build resilience are better equipped to handle the rapid pace of technological disruptions, generational shifts, and the ever-changing landscape of work. These forces are transforming how organizations function, and those who cultivate resilience within their teams will not only navigate these challenges more effectively but also create a culture that thrives in times of change. As we confront the uncertainties of the election, economic instability, workplace evolution, and global disruptions, resilience may prove to be the key to both survival and long-term success.

Preparing for Stress: A Science-Based Approach

There are concrete steps to help you build this kind of resilience, each designed to strengthen your ability to handle stress, both individually and within your team. Rather than avoiding anxiety, the goal is to anticipate and prepare for it. By understanding the brain’s natural responses and hacking those processes, we can move through stress with greater ease, setting ourselves—and our organizations—up to face whatever comes next.

Step 1: Anticipate Stress, Don’t Avoid It

Our brains love dress rehearsals. While it may seem counterintuitive, thinking through stressful situations before they happen can actually lessen their impact. By mentally preparing for potential stressors, you create a sense of familiarity, which reduces anxiety when the real moment comes. Rather than avoiding uncomfortable scenarios, consider them beforehand—whether it’s a breakup conversation or an unexpected presentation—and visualize how it might play out. This familiarization eases the brain’s response, making those moments less overwhelming.

Stress touches every aspect of life, from personal challenges to professional projects. When planning a project, you naturally map out timelines, budgets, and deliverables. Now, layer stress management on top of that. Pinpoint moments that might cause tension—deadlines, presentations, critical feedback—and discuss them with your team. Have everyone think through potential anxieties and mentally rehearse how to handle them. By doing this, you’re preparing everyone to feel less anxious and more in control when those stressors inevitably arise.

The objective here isn’t to eliminate stress but to anticipate it, allowing the brain to process it ahead of time. The more familiar the brain is with a stressful situation, the less paralyzing it becomes, giving you the resilience to handle pressure with greater ease.

Step 2: Build Resilience Gradually Through Exposure

Resilience doesn’t develop overnight; it strengthens gradually, like a muscle. In Step 1, I encouraged you to mentally prepare for stress. Now, it’s time to face those moments in small, manageable steps. Gradually confronting stress allows your brain to adapt through neuroplasticity, improving its ability to cope.

Start small. If public speaking makes you anxious, begin with a small group of close colleagues, then move on to larger, more formal settings. The same principle applies in personal situations. After being hurt in past relationships, it’s important to start with smaller emotional risks, such as setting boundaries in casual conversations or being open about minor feelings. Gradually, as you build confidence, you can approach deeper emotional challenges, like addressing trust issues or vulnerability in more significant relationships. By incrementally exposing yourself to these stressors, you train your brain to handle the emotional complexities of new relationships, allowing resilience to develop over time.

Each time you face a stressor, your brain strengthens the neural pathways responsible for emotional regulation and problem-solving. Over time, situations that once overwhelmed you or paralyzed you with fear will feel more manageable. Building resilience through gradual exposure trains your brain to handle greater challenges, allowing you to face them with greater confidence and control.

Step 3: Focus on Success, Not Mistakes

We’ve been ingrained with the idea that "we learn from our mistakes," but in reality, our brains are more focused on learning from success. Imagine planning a road trip from New York to LA. There are countless ways to get off course, but only a few routes will get you there efficiently—whether it’s faster, safer, or with fewer stops. Your brain doesn’t remember every wrong turn; It can't. Instead, it zeroes in on the successful path that got you to your destination. This is why we often repeat mistakes—our brains prioritize what led to success rather than storing every misstep along the way.

Marshall Goldsmith’s Feedforward takes this idea further. Traditional feedback zeroes in on what went wrong, which can lead to criticism, defensiveness, or even getting stuck in a cycle of self-blame. It’s natural to feel stress and anxiety when we focus on what went wrong, especially when reviewing our own performance. Feedforward flips this around by shifting the focus to future improvements: What can you do differently next time? It’s about looking ahead and avoiding the anxiety that comes with dwelling on past mistakes.

Focusing on the future doesn’t just help alleviate anxiety—it builds resilience by keeping you moving forward.

Step 4: Conduct a Stress Audit

Stress and anxiety are huge drains on our energy, especially when they accumulate through small, everyday stressors. Over time, this constant strain leaves us less capable of tackling the bigger challenges that demand our full attention. A Stress Audit is a tool that helps identify these energy drains in your life, both personally and professionally.

Start with your personal environment. Are your unread emails piling up? Is your workspace cluttered? These seemingly minor stressors slowly erode your mental energy. In teams or organizations, you might encounter poor communication, unclear expectations, or repetitive, inefficient workflows. These stressors not only slow down productivity but also create mental friction that wears down resilience.

A Stress Audit works by pinpointing these stress triggers and streamlining them. When you clean up physical clutter or simplify daily tasks, you free up cognitive resources to handle larger issues. This works the same way in an organizational setting: once stress points are identified and minimized, teams can focus their energy on more significant challenges.

Ultimately, resilience to big issues is easier to build when we reduce the smaller stressors. By chipping away at these everyday energy drains, we create mental space to face larger disruptions with greater focus and strength.

Closing Thoughts

Resilience isn’t something we’re born with; it’s something we build. By anticipating stress, exposing ourselves to it gradually, focusing on successes, and conducting stress audits, we create the conditions necessary to face both personal and professional challenges head-on. The world is always changing, but resilience allows us to adapt with purpose and strength. With these steps, you’re not just surviving disruptions—you’re learning to thrive in them.