How are your resilience levels?

Do you ever question your levels of resilience? Recently, I’ve been questioning mine. Starting a business and attempting to scale it to a level which will pay the rapidly rising costs of living is exciting, even exhilarating, but also very tough. It’s left me in a constant state of alert; always looking out for the next opportunity or idea. My sleep feels like it’s been disturbed for so long that I can’t remember what it’s like to drop off easily or sleep through the night. I’m hoping that there will be a shift soon and that I can reach a new state of peace and equilibrium. Next week I’m off to Spain for a week, where I hope to sleep, read, and recharge my batteries to keep growing HEX for the rest of the year.

A state, not a trait

My friend Dr Amanda Potter, Chief Psychology Officer at Zircon, has shared her expert knowledge and research to help me understand that when we feel resilient and experience positive emotions, we’re able to identify and use our strengths to perform at our best. However, when we push too hard, we’re not giving ourselves a chance to alter our approach.

Amanda introduced me to the neuropsychology of resilience, which helped me to understand the links between errors or failure, learning, resilience, and brain plasticity. Resilience is not a trait but a state that can be learned and developed, and over time the brain can create new neural pathways and connections to help us to reinforce and learn new skills. If the behaviour is significantly different from previous actions, new neural connections can be created.

Why’s it important?

For leaders, resilience levels are important, not only for their own wellbeing, but for that of their teams. I often talk with clients about the Workforce Institute’s research that showed that an individual’s wellbeing is influenced as much by their line manager as their spouse or domestic partner. If a leader is in a less resilient state, they will cast a shadow over those that they lead, sometimes causing stress, burnout, and poor performance.

Action

So, what can we do? There are several things, some proactive, some reactive:

Proactive

·       Boundaries – set healthy boundaries between work and home, and learn to say no when you’re overloaded.

·       Eating – eat well, avoid too much fatty or high sugar food, and limit alcohol (sorry everyone)

·       Sleeping – sleep is the elixir of life, and without it, our resilience levels are depleted.

·       Moving – exercise releases feel good chemicals that improve our resilience levels.

·       Relaxing – rest and relaxation are important. What do you enjoy doing that keeps you firmly in the present and away from unhelpful thoughts?

Reactive

·       Understanding – recognise what triggers you to feel low resilience, and make sure you’re ready.

·       Awareness – recognise what low resilience feels like for you, so you know when you need to take action.

·       Recall – remember what has worked for you in the past to increase your resilience (see the proactive steps above)

·       Intention – be intentional about the action you take to build a resilient state.

·       Trust the process – remember that the discomfort of feeling low resilience passes. Sit with it and you will come out the other side.

Look after these things, and your resilience levels will improve. This will make you happier, more productive, and as a leader, will help your team thrive as well. My focus for the next few weeks is on rest (I’ll probably need to focus on the eating and moving bit when I get home!). Regardless, I know that this stressful period will pass, and I will get back to a calmer state in time.

If you’re interested in talking more about resilience, or anything else, get in touch by hitting the button below.