Personal development, whether in the workplace or at home, is something we associate with learning a new skill or getting better at one we already have.  However, as a general rule we tend to focus on more practical subjects whilst not always creating space to develop our emotional skills.  Conversely though, by investing more in our emotional intelligence, performance improvements are usually a welcome consequence.

Our levels of resilience, as we discussed in our last blog, are to some extent pre-programmed and no amount of brain-training is going to change a die-hard pessimist into an extreme optimist.  For those willing, however, there are things you can to improve your resilience.

It’s unreasonable to think that stressful or difficult situations can be removed from daily life and so investing in your ability to deal with these issues in a positive and constructive way is critical for to not just move on, but to learn and grow from these experiences.

Your personal resiliency audit

The last year has been a huge test of our resilience which makes now a perfect opportunity to take stock of how you’ve responded to what’s been going on around us and reflect on what you can learn from this.

Think about what you’ve done that you want to repeat, what’s worked well and not so well, what you’d do differently or what new things you want to try.  How well do you think you’ve coped and has this been what you would expect of yourself in a stressful situation?

When thinking about what you’ve learnt, are there things that you want to embed into your future lifestyle?  How have you felt about the pace of life during the lockdown periods and the blurring of home and work life?  What mechanisms have you put in place and how to you embed and sustain what’s important to you?

We must continue to do the things that make us feel more positive and practice them in order for them to become habits, which over time will contribute to your improved resilience.

Where to focus your energy

When thinking about a more structured approach to building resilience, there are a number of positive factors that have been identified as helping to do this by improving coping and adaptability skills.  These include:

• Realistic planning – this can help you play to your strengths and focus on achievable goals
• Self-Esteem – a positive sense of self and confidence in your own strengths can stave off feelings of helplessness when confronted with adversity
• Coping skills – coping and problem-solving skills can help create a sense of control when faced with adversity or the need to overcome hardship.
• Communication skills – being able to talk about what’s going on can help you seek support, stand-up resources and take positive action
• Emotional regulation – the ability to manage potentially overwhelming emotions helps you maintain focus and make rational decisions rather than emotional

Reassuringly for anyone looking to strengthen their resilience, each of these factors can be practiced, further developed or explored in more detail.

Create an approach that works for you

Leaning how to shore up your resilience doesn’t have to have a detailed plan attached to it.  There are lots of more bitesize ways to learn tips and techniques that will help you deal with challenging situations or focus on a specific area of resilience such as those mentioned above.

Here are some of our favourites:

• Mind, the mental health charity, has some great tips on simple changes you can make to things like your health and lifestyle habits
• With over two decades of experience, Robertson Cooper is a company of workplace wellbeing specialists with lots of free resources on their website
• Ted Talks are a good way to learn on the go; Lucy Hone has delivered a great talk about ‘The 3 secrets of resilient people’
• Action for Happiness is a movement of people committed to happiness; they have a lot of information and resources on their website including a calendar of things you can do each day to make you smile
• There are some industry experts on the topic too – a couple of names worth exploring further are Jon Gordon and Brene Brown

Cube Learning & Development delivers bespoke personal coaching programmes to help you take control of your own mindset. For a no-obligation chat about this and our other training, call Chris Burton on 07879 602002