The Power of Resiliency

“For I will not lose, for even in defeat, there’s a valuable lesson learned, so it evens it up for me.. “This wise and powerful quote, initially rapped by the astute and eloquent Shawn “Jay Z” Carter is one of my favorite quotes. It reflects the entire power of resiliency and how It can affect a person’s growth and development. My second favorite quote is, “it’s not about how hard you can hit, its about how hard you can get hit, and keep moving forward…” from the movie Rocky Balboa. Lessons learned, and changed behavior is where the you begin to leave the shell of who you once were behind and begin to walk in the truth of who you really are.

I have been punched in the gut and dropped to my knees more than my fair share. I have been told to quit, give up and that your services are no longer required. It hurt, it hurt more than I could stand. The proverbial wounds bled for days, weeks and years. But time heals all… As much as we do not want to believe that its true. So, the key move in the road to success is to not give up. “Well duh Chris we didn’t need to read this to know that” is what I’m sure you’re saying. And yeah, you’re right. Well what can I say that will get you to understand my point? Let’s try this. Just keep going.

From my time in the Corps one of the biggest things I’ve learned is to just keep going. I hated running (I still do, ran a marathon and hated every minute of it, lol) but as a Marine I had to run to remain combat effective and to become a leader to my peers. I would start to run, and my mind would immediately tell me to stop, it would tell me “I can’t breathe, and my body is cramping” So from the very beginning I chanted in my head and out loud, “Keep moving Chris... One foot in front of the other Chris... Don’t quit Chris! Just stay next to the marine you are running with...” Over and over, repeatedly saying these chants. And before I knew it, 5, 6 miles were behind me and the run was complete. That’s when I learned that running was mental. I applied this mentality to everything that I did from that point forward. Don’t quit, don’t give up, die if I must in the process, but fight to the end.

This method built a resilience muscle inside of me to massive proportions. Knowledge is power and being cognizant of your capabilities with 100 percent confidence is dangerous when it comes to those who oppose your success. So I will share what some may consider common knowledge.

The biggest enemy to defeat is the one in the mirror. The world is consistent. The world will tell you that you can’t, you’re incapable. To stop and go the other way. The world will attempt to lock you inside a cage of fear where you are forced to be exactly who you have been. It is so easy to fall in line and to join in to a failure mentality groupthink. The real fight begins with yourself. Nobody has your back but you when it boils down to it. So, when that voice of failure begins to echo in your head, you must drown it out. Create a mantra, repeatedly tell yourself you can, you will over and over and believe! That voice will dissipate what will be left is you standing victorious. That is resilience.

Learning that it is ok to “fail” as long as you grow from it. Taking “Extreme Ownership” over your life and decisions, good, bad and indifferent. To commit to your decisions regardless the outcome. Because if you own it, if you maintain your integrity, and take responsibility you can own every single outcome that comes from it. Jocko Willink says it best “When you take ownership of your problems, your problems get solved.” Real leadership begins when you are able to own your mistakes, learn from them and move forward.

You must learn to get up and keep moving. To get hit and keep going. To take your lumps on the chin and hopefully during the next fight you will duck a little bit faster. Optimism aside, my greatest success in life is when I began to understand that I could literally do absolutely anything I put my time and effort towards. Resiliency is needed for you to succeed, you have made it this far and it’s not by luck. You are a fighter, keep fighting the good fight.

By: Christopher B. Randall

Source: www.RandallCB.com