You are More Resilient than You Think (But You Already Knew That)
As a keynote speaker on resiliency and overcoming challenges, I want to congratulate you. You made it through 2020. Maybe you’re a little scarred and bruised, but you did it. I’m willing to bet that deep down you knew you could overcome last year’s challenges.
On the other hand, perhaps you’re worried about 2021; you’re convinced that 2020 was a fluke and that you can’t possibly go on it unless there’s a miracle. I’ve got good news for you. With vision, the right mindset and grit this year could be the best one ever. What’s more, there’s research that proves it.
More Resilient than You Think
Toward the end of last year, the Harvard Business Review featured an article by Marcus Buckingham, head of the ADP Research Institute on the topic of resiliency especially in light of the COVID pandemic.
The Institute conducted a major research study and found that not only were women and men equally resilient, but that age was never a factor. A man of 77 could be equally as resilient to change as a woman of 33.
In terms of the pandemic, the ADP Research Institute found that the closer a person was to family, friends or associates during this COVID time, the greater their resilience. In fact, “the more tangible the threat, the more resilient they became.”
What was most fascinating to me as a keynote speaker on resiliency was the finding that the greater the number of workplace changes, the greater the resilience. Sales teams, marketing or production departments, in fact any department, can adjust their resilience levels to meet most any challenge.
Be Determined to Be Resilient
Though the article developed conclusions about resilience in terms of COVID, I know first-hand that when I awakened following a horrific accident that left me a quadriplegic, I had no choice but to be determined to be resilient.
As I quickly assessed the number of changes my body had undergone, I knew I had to be resilient and I could overcome adversity. I could either be a victim of circumstances or have the vision of overcoming my situation. I had to develop the daily grit to fight through whatever life had thrown at me and I succeeded.
However, a virus or an accident are not the only circumstances that can cause us to lose resiliency.
Whether you are a member of a sales team that had no choice but to work remotely, a shop foreman in a production facility where everyone has had to socially distance, or the manager of a large accounting staff where everyone has had to work with clients under difficult situations, you can either be willing to fight back or to cave-in.
You can succeed in 2021. This can be the most successful year of your life but you have to be resilient enough to believe it. I’ll leave you with a final thought from the article:
“Many of our leaders are not giving us enough credit. Psychologist Viktor Frankl told us back in the 1930s: ‘Our response to unavoidable suffering is one of the primary sources in our lives of meaning and purpose and self-efficacy. Suffering and difficulty must never be hidden from us.’ ”
No matter what we’re faced with this year, let’s meet it head-on. Let’s all have the vision, mindset and grit to bounce back from the adversity of 2020 and charge ahead.
Book Scott Burrows, keynote speaker on resiliency and overcoming challenges by contacting him through this website or his office at: (520) 548-1169
