How Are You Improving Your Resiliency?

One of the qualities I hear that individuals, families, and businesses need to have (or develop) during this season is resiliency. I have to admit that I rarely used the word. Anytime a word or phrase starts trending, however (there are over 70 million search results if you type "resiliency" and "pandemic" with Google) I like to learn more about its meaning.

What is resiliency?

According to an article at worklifehealth.com, "Resiliency is defined as the ability to effectively cope with, recover from, or adapt to, changing life situations." Okay. I now understand why people are using the word so much. This current season has caused many people to put much of their lives on hold, or even worse, neglect those things that are most important to them. If someone is resilient, they seek out ways to move forward even when progress might be difficult or the exact path unknown.

How do you improve resiliency?

While experts agree that our genetics may give us some level of resilience, they also agree that much of it is learned from our life experiences... like on the job training. We improve resilience by going through challenges that require resilience to survive and it's only after that experience is over that we can look back and see what was helpful.

Having said that, here are seven key strategies I found that can help improve resilience as we face difficult situations:

• Control the controllable. In her article, Building and Maintaining Resilience During A Pandemic, Dr. Barbara Walker writes, "When you start noting feelings of stress [in a changing situation], ask yourself, “What can I control in this situation?” The truth is that we can only control what we think, say and do, and how we respond to events outside of ourselves." That's a great mental checklist for me.
• Focus on W-I-N. Dr. Walker suggests carving out time for reflection or using downtime to ask yourself, "What's Important Now?" to help clarify your purpose and priorities.
• Quarantine your worry. I loved the idea from one article that suggested you designate 30 minutes per day as "worry time" and you tackle each worry as if it's a problem to be solved. Then, when you feel yourself letting worry overwhelm you during the day, you say, "It's not time for that now. I've got time schedule for it later."
• Keep some level of routine. Routines invite a sense of order into an otherwise chaotic world. They give you a higher sense of control. Because it might be difficult to keep all of your current routines, choose 2-3 that are most meaningful to you.
• Stay connected with others. Be intentional about keeping others close who can support you during your changing situation. Talk to them about how you feel or the situation is affecting you. An article from the CDC also suggests making it a higher priority to check on the well-being of others affected by the situation. The authors write, "Helping others improves your sense of control, belonging, and self-esteem."
• Coach yourself. When negative thoughts arise, Ask yourself, "How is this serving me?" or come up with a slogan to address it like, "This is temporary."
• Reduce other sources of stress. Whether the changing life situation is a pandemic, hurricane, or loss of a job, it probably isn't the only source of stress in your life. While tackling the smaller ones won't necessarily solve the bigger challenge you're facing, removing them will give you increased mental and emotional energy to face it.

I have to admit that when I have heard the word resilient in the past, I just thought it meant that someone had the will to push through tough circumstances. While that is part of what it means, I like what a recent Fast Company article suggested are the three components of true resilience:

• A clear sense of reality
• The ability to make sense of what's going on
• Problem-solving and improvisation

With our world continuing to change so quickly, I know I could serve myself well by becoming more resilient. How about you?

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Jones Loflin is a global keynote speaker offering innovative strategies for those struggling with too much to do. He is the author of several books, including Always Growing and the award-winning Juggling Elephants. Jones is well-known for his onsite and virtual solutions for individuals, groups and businesses dealing with leadership development, work-life satisfaction, and change. To learn more about Jones, go to www.jonesloflin.com