It's not just bouncing back!

Hi there!

The monthly theme over on WorkLifeSpark for February has been resilience. Like many of the topics I work with as a practitioner psychologist, resilience seems to have strayed from its original meaning and, in some particularly toxic organisational environments, is even weaponised. How many times have you heard "You need to be resilient to work here"?!

That said, being able to respond to challenges in an effective and sustainable way is a priceless life skill. Difficulties and setbacks - whatever we might wish to the contrary - are inevitable. The sheer volume of resilience-building coaching and workshops I do with my clients highlights its relevance.

But whether it's the organisational or individual perspective on resilience and its importance, it's important to have a realistic and holistic perspective on the concept.

Taking a fresh look at resilience

Organisations have a duty of care to identify and minimise the sources of job-related stress, illness and danger in the workplace. Similarly, employees need to be able to respond to realistic challenges at work in a way that doesn't detract from their performance and wellbeing. So we have the top-down organisational focus and the bottom-up employee capacity to deal with challenges.

What clouds all of this is the fact that resilience is often over-simplified as hard-headedness, simple persistence or the magical ability to 'bounce back' immediately. Resilience is inherently flexible and simply deploying the same approach to different problems in varied contexts isn't always going to work. Hard-headed persistence in the face of an insurmountable problem is a short cut to burnout. Instant 'bouncing back' without reflection and learning will almost inevitably contribute to a repeat of the original problem.

Nor does resilience mean solving all your problems yourself, never experiencing stress or unwelcome emotions, or simply thinking positive thoughts. Resilience is about how we think, feel and behave in the face of difficulties and is therefore more complex than any one-size fits all solution. And it's possible to explore it from different perspectives.

💪🏼 Resilience as skills
I help my clients see their resilience as the cumulative impact of a number of important skills. Skills that can be developed by anyone at any stage in their career. It's not the preserve of the elite, or something that you're born with (or not!).

📈 Resilience as an investment in your future self
I also encourage clients to consider how they can develop their resilience over time - as an investment in their future selves. Because the last time you want to be thinking about how to develop your resilience is when you're facing a major challenge! Small investments in the present will pay off in the future.

🔍 Resilience as on ongoing area of focus
Rather than a goal to be achieved or a topic to consider when mid-crisis, personal resilience is best thought of as an ongoing area of focus: a lot like your health, your family, and your finances. Something to check-in on regularly so you can make the kind of small course adjustments to keep things on track.

✅ Resilience as habits
Building our personal resilience isn't like flicking a switch in our brains! It's the result of practicing cognitive, emotional and behavioural skills over time. But that can sound overwhelming, so it's often better to focus on resilience-building habits. Prioritising sleep. Building a good social network. Planning and organising. Prioritising workload. Learning from experience and reflection. Building tolerance for psychological discomfort. Developing emotional literacy.

If you sign up for WorkLifeSpark membership (which starts at £FREE!), you can watch the recording of February's Learn at Lunch session, where I look at the essentials of personal resilience. And the latest episode of My Pocket Psych explores some of the above themes in more detail.

My questions to you

Before you move onto the next email in your in-box, ask yourself:

• How resilient am I right now? How do I know this?
• What action am I taking to positively contribute to my resilience?
• What could I start doing to invest in future me?

And, as ever, please feel free to get in touch with your questions on this topic at any point.

📆 Dates for your diary

March 2nd, 12pm UK time: Learn at lunch - Beat your procrastination habit! Our community focus for March is procrastination and we kick off the month with a session to demystify the concept and explore some ways to beat the habit. I'll be explaining its negative impact on performance and wellbeing and sharing a simple way to unhook yourself from its grip. Free to community members.

March 5th, 6pm UK time: 'After Hours...' with Dr. Mike Rucker. The next of our quarterly 'After Hours...' sessions features Dr. Mike Rucker, author of 'The Fun Habit' and previous guest on the podcast. Mike will be explaining the role of fun at work, sharing some evidence-based ways to increase how much fun we experience, and answering your questions. The session will be recorded and made available to community members.