What does resilience mean to you? Does it mean being able to easily bounce back, or to keep on going when things get tough? 

That is resilience, but being resilient also means that you can adapt to change, learn and grow from setbacks, and be aware of how you respond to certain situations and why. 

The pandemic has forced huge changes upon us, and most of us are resistant to change, especially when it’s unwanted or unexpected. But being resilient helps us to not only get through periods of stress and change, it helps us take lessons from them and thrive. 

Resilience in the workplace has never been more important. The managers and teams that manage not to get completely blown off course by change and adversity in these times will come out of all of this stronger than before. 

The ones left standing will be those with a resilient mindset. 

A resilient mindset protects you against overwhelm and falling apart when things get tough. It’s not about waiting until things are terrible then taking action, it’s about having the mental tools already to help you navigate the choppy waters and maintain your wellbeing. 

The spiritual teacher, Eckhart Tolle, said that the primary cause of unhappiness is not the situation you find yourself in, but your thoughts about it. That pretty much sums up how important it is to have the right mindset in the face of stress. 

How you view the situation you are facing can determine the effect it has on you. If you look at this time as a challenge and as a motivator to change and do better, this has the effect of driving you on and believing that you’ll not only survive this, but thrive when you come out on the other side. 

But if you only see overwhelm and difficulty, that is what you’ll get. Your mind will be focused more on the problems than the solutions. 

People who survive tough times with their well-being intact and a positive attitude towards the future are those who treat challenging times as a motivator and something they can learn from rather than some unscalable mountain that they’ll never be able to climb. 

The good news is, even if you don’t have a resilient mindset now, it’s something that can be learned and developed. 

So, how can you develop a more resilient mindset?

Here are a few key ways.

When you’re faced with tough times, remember your ‘why.’ If you run a business, remember why you started. Was it because you wanted more freedom, more time for your family, and because you wanted to forge your own path? 

If you work for a particular company, why do you love working there? Do you love the company ethos, do you have a great bunch of colleagues, do you feel like you’re doing something good? 

Whenever the going gets tough and you wonder whether you can carry on, remember your ‘why’ and this will remind you of your purpose and help you develop a more resilient mindset. 

Another good tip is to focus on how the tough situation might help you grow and lead you to something that’s even better than what you had before. 

Stress is a funny thing. We can’t completely eliminate stress from our lives, but a bit of stress is necessary to motivate us. If you don’t have anything pushing you on, it’s easy to stagnate. Some stress pushes you to adapt, learn new things, and step out of your comfort zone. 

Being outside of your comfort zone can make you feel uneasy, but you don’t grow in comfort. You grow by asking what I can learn from this situation. How can I do better next time? 

In tough times, always try to focus on what you can potentially gain from going through difficulty rather than what you could lose. 

Finally, it can be quite empowering to realise that you have the ability to change how you think about something and to look at it differently. 

While the pandemic has had unquestionable negative impacts on many people, is there anything that’s better for you now than it was before? Maybe you often wished that you could work from home a few days per week, and now it’s become a real possibility. Maybe not having to commute every day has allowed you to spend more time with your family or on a hobby. Or maybe the pandemic has made you re-evaluate your life completely, and you’ve realised that you were just coasting along, and now you want to pursue your dreams. 

It’s all about reframing your perspective on things and realising that you can take something positive from even the worst of situations. 

How positive do you feel about the future?

2020 has been a huge test of our resilience. 

There’s been change, uncertainty, upheaval, and the personal impact of the pandemic and lockdown will have made us all think at some point;

“ I wish this was over.”

“ I can’t cope. When will this stop?”

“ Why can’t things just go back to how they were?”

These are common thoughts to have when you go through change, especially if you feel like it was ‘forced’ upon you. 

In times like these, we have to call on our resilience. 

We need to reflect on what we’ve been through, where we want to go, and what we can take with us on the next bit of our journey. 

But do you really want to go back to how things were as you move forward, or is there a better way? 

Can you reframe the setbacks and come back more resilient than ever? 

YES YOU CAN. 

On my Resilience Masterclass, you’ll learn the secret to becoming more resilient and being able to move forward, feeling positive about the future. 

In the 2-hour masterclass, you’ll;

• Learn about what resilience is and where it comes from.

• Discover the six keys to resilience. 

• Have the chance to reflect on your journey so far, where you are right now, and where you’d like to be.

Does this sound like exactly what you need right now?

Book a place on my masterclass now. Here are the details you’ll need… (ADD DETAILS). 

I hope you’ve enjoyed this podcast and you got some good tips on how to be more resilient. 

This is The People Mentor signing off.