Stress and change are an inevitable part of life. To handle these stresses, we must have resilience - the ability to cope successfully in the face of adversity. As the rate of depression increases and the pace of change skyrockets, resilience is becoming a major buzzword for personal health and well being. Unfortunately, this skill isn’t taught in school, and if you don’t seek out the knowledge, you may be missing out on one of the most important tools in your personal development toolbox.

Measuring Resilience
Resilience can be measured by looking at a number of factors in your life

1. Connectedness means having people around you that care about you and that you care about. This may be family, friends or religious community. It really doesn’t matter what the source of the connection is, it is just important that you are plugged in to strong, supportive relationships that will sustain you through difficult times.
2. Sense of Purpose means having a clear sense of who you are and what you want to accomplish. This sense of purpose provides direction and focus in the midst of trials, and enables you to move forward in spite of temporary setbacks.
3. Personal Initiative means focusing on the desired outcomes instead of the obstacles, and then acting to bring those outcomes to pass. The opposite would be focusing on problems and undesired results, which would only bring those negative things into your life. This focus enables you to act on your sense of purpose even when faced with barriers and difficulties.
4. Personal Flexibility means making room in your life for alternative ideas and solutions. Albert Einstein said insanity is “Doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results”. We often act like insane people, getting caught in the same loops of thought and action seemingly unable to escape. If we pursue flexibility, we will always have new tools and ideas at our disposal to bring the desired results into our lives.

Increasing Resilience
Resilience is like a muscle. You won’t go from bench pressing 50 pounds to 250 pounds in the course of a week. But consistently seeking to expand these areas of your life will lead to greater personal resilience. How do you exercise these resilience muscles?

1. Increase connectedness by turning off the television and getting involved. Join a professional organization, Toastmasters, or volunteer. Look at your existing relationships and decide how you will deepen your connections with those people. Hint - success in relationships is spelled T-I-M-E.
2. Develop a clear sense of purpose through goal setting and journaling. Goal setting gives you a target to shoot for. Like an expert marksman, you can focus on that target regardless of the turmoil around you. Journaling will help you develop a better idea of the kind of life you want, and the kind of person you want to be.
3. Develop personal initiative by taking action on the list of goals you developed. Don’t tackle the biggest, most anxiety inducing activity on day one. Just like increasing physical strength, you have to add weight little by little.
4. Increase your personal flexibility by reading about different perspectives and meeting different people. Try eating at a different restaurant, or if that is too much, just try driving a different way to work. The keyword here is different. When we do the same things day after day, it is easy to believe it is the “right” way. Shifting to a slightly different habit can wake you up to new options and opportunities.

Remember, you will face adversity in your life. The question is, will you put in the work it takes to be ready when it shows up.

This entry was posted on Monday, September 10th, 2007 at 5:47 am and is filed under resilience, goals, habits. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed, bookmark the Permalink in your Browser, leave a response, or trackback from your own site.