| 29 September 2010
"Resilience" in psychology is the positive capacity of people to cope with stress and adversity. This coping may result in the individual “bouncing back” to a previous state of normal functioning, or using the experience of exposure to adversity to produce a “steeling effect” and function better than expected (much like an inoculation gives one the capacity to cope well with future exposure to disease)[1]. Resilience is most commonly understood as a process, and not a trait of an individual [2].
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Just as children have to have their shots before entering the halls of school, entrepreneurs should receive a series of shots to inoculate them from powerful diseases that are designed to hinder and derail productivity and success. Let’s take a look at one nasty disease: Distractomentocuocus (Distractions, for us regular folks).
Distractions can come in subtle forms: “Why are my pants tight today? The wash must have shrunk them!” (The real culprit? Krispy Kreme) Or, Client A is not only not happy but wants to tell the entire world about it. The effects from managing a distraction such as an unhappy client can easily take up valuable time, energy and emotion. The results are palpable. By the time you turn back to your original project, you’re distracted with discouragement and exhaustion because you’ve just survived a battle that rivaled something from Empire Strikes Back.
There is hope. With every nasty disease, there is a big, bad shot to inoculate you from the side effects. What is the arch nemesis to distractions? Resilience. You may say, ‘Focus’ would be the better shot. No, the problem with that shot is that your lights have already been knocked out by the distractions and you need something to boost yourself back up to fighting form.
Resilience.
What is awesome about resilience is that it is the fastest diffuser of distractions. The real purpose of massive disruptions is to not only take your eye off the ball of your dream but to also take your eye off of the full realization of your power. Resilience reminds you why you’re here and why you matter. It lifts you up and pushes you front and center into your power source.
So, how do you get this shot? This is one shot that is tricky because we all have our own triggers to move us away from distractions and back to dream-making. Do some self-reflection to figure out what works best for you. For me, I will give myself time, to absolutely be mad and acknowledge that the situation is frustrating. But the deal I have with myself is that I have to spend an equal amount of time finding a solution. So, if I’m mad for 20 minutes, then I spend 20 more minutes giving myself positive reinforcement as I find a solution. I also have a note on my monitor that says, ‘BREATHE’. This note reminds me to breathe deeply and relax my shoulders, as I’ll notice that my breathing becomes shorter and my shoulders will hunch when I’m stressed. So, just as you need a new tetanus every 7 years, you’ll need to have your resiliency shot ready to go, because new strains of distractions are being introduced everyday. Get ready and be ready because you can overcome them.
Christa Chambers-Price is the CEO of Knowledgecrush, Inc. a professional development company that rocks training and networking online.
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