Gatsby Benchmarks
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Seven steps to enhancing your resilience
Resilience helps us cope, thrive and flourish at school, work and in life. The good news is it can be developed at any age.
ersonal resilience is not simply present in some
P people and lacking in others. On a personal level, you can change your responses to pressure and change by modifying your thoughts and actions. This can be described as developing a resilient attitude.
Find your sense of purpose
Having structure, commitment and meaning in your life boosts resilience. A clear sense of purpose helps you to assess setbacks within the framework of a broader perspective. Consider who and what is important to you when you feel stressed and under pressure and why you do what you do.
Develop you own problem-solving strategies
The way you perceive situations, address problems and manage change is crucial. Reflect on how you approach challenges and how often your judgement is clouded by emotional and irrational thinking.
Maintain self-awareness
Reflection fosters learning, new perspectives and a degree of selfawareness that enhances resilience. Develop self-belief by looking back at memorable and challenging experiences( positive and negative).
Embrace change
Flexibility is essential to resilience. By learning how to be more adaptable, you’ ll be better equipped to respond when faced with unexpected work challenges or life crises. This may
ASHRIDGE EXECUTIVE EDUCATION involve moving outside of your comfort zone, through increasing your curiosity and openness to new experiences in and outside work. Resilient people often take an adverse event as an opportunity to branch out in a new direction( eg. a redundancy as a chance to set up your own business).
Become a continuous learner
Learn new skills, gain understanding and apply these during times of change. Do not hold on to old behaviours and bad habits, especially when it’ s clear that they don’ t work any more. Start thinking about what drives these behaviours and habits and why you retain them.
Practise self-care
When feeling stressed, it can be all too easy to neglect your own needs. Losing your appetite, avoiding exercise, and getting insufficient sleep are common reactions to everyday pressure and a crisis situation. By taking care of your own needs, you can boost your overall health and resilience and feel fully prepared to confront life’ s challenges.
Take positive action
In situations of increased work pressure, it can be difficult to continue doing things you enjoy. People often focus on solving the challenge at hand and may work longer and later, to their own detriment, of other elements of their life. You will feel revitalised if you take positive action and also do what makes you feel good about yourself, even when you feel like you lack the energy to do so.
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